I'll Wait For You
by InsecureNeuroticControlFreak
Summary: *This is my very first fanfic, so please be patient with me! Everyone in this story is human. Damon and Elena are in the story but it is all about Steroline.* Stefan Salvatore and Caroline Forbes have both been hurt by people in their past. When they meet, can they help each other move on?
1. Chapter 1

"Stefan, breakfast is ready!"  
He heard Elena calling for him, but he just wasn't ready to get out of bed.

Stefan would do this every morning. He woke up hours before he needed to, and just laid in bed wide awake, his mind going a million miles per hour.  
Why didn't he see it sooner? Why couldn't he see that she hadn't been happy? Maybe if he had just opened his eyes, she wouldn't have hurt him, he could have saved them. Maybe if he had made her happier, she wouldn't have cheated on him, and most of all, maybe he wouldn't have walked in on her screwing one of his friends.  
That image would forever be burned into his memory. 

_FLASHBACK:  
Katherine, the girl who was supposed to be the love of his life, writhing underneath Enzo, neither of them even noticing that he was standing there.  
Stefan went into a blind rage.  
He charged into the room, Katherine scrambling to cover herself as she rolled off of Enzo. He stood, raised his hands in the air and prepared for what he knew was coming. Stefan shoved him into a wall and started punching him in the face, over and over and over until. He could hear Katherine screaming at him to stop, but all of his senses disappeared and all he could do was to keep throwing his fist into Enzo's face.  
He didn't know how long it had gone on for, but eventually he stopped and stepped back, trying to catch his breath, not realizing that he had tears running down his cheek. He looked down at Enzo, on the floor, bloodied and beaten.  
He took one last look at Katherine, a burning, livid anger running through him. She tried to grab his arm to keep him from walking away. He pulled his arm away like he'd been burned. He walked out of the room and never looked back.  
Last he'd heard, the two of them moved to New York together.  
That was 8 months ago._

"Stefan! Come on, we can't be late to the airport!"  
Stefan groaned, he forgot they were supposed to be picking up Elena's friend, Caroline.

Caroline use to live in Mystic Falls when they were all just kids, her and her mother moved away when they were 6. Elena kept in touch with her all these years, and now Caroline would be coming to live with them.  
Stefan knew it shouldn't be a big deal, it's not like they didn't have plenty of room at the boarding house. He just wasn't thrilled about a stranger living in his house.  
Elena had rolled her eyes at him when he told her that. "She's not a stranger Stefan, she's one of my best friends!"  
He knew he was being childish, he just didn't care.

He finally rolled out of bed and was in and out of the shower in less than five minutes. He put on his favorite dark jeans and a gray v-neck shirt and headed downstairs.  
Just like every morning, his brother was reading the paper and drinking his coffee and Elena was putting fresh flowers on the kitchen table.  
Stefan couldn't help but chuckle to himself every time he saw this. Damon and Elena had only been together for two years and yet their morning routine resembled a couple who had been together for most of their lives. They almost gave him hope that maybe one day he could be that happy again too…almost.

"Nice of you to join us little brother."  
Stefan was snapped out of his thoughts and looked up to see Damon smirking at him.

"Yeah, whatever" he mumbled. "What time are we leaving?"  
Elena looked at her watch, "Five minutes, I really don't want to be late."  
"And why exactly again is this girl moving back here?" Stefan asked in an annoyed tone.  
Elena gave him a glare, and then her eyes softened as she told him, "It's been a really tough year for her."  
Stefan gave her a confused look when she didn't offer any more information but she just looked away, shrugged and finished his breakfast.

In the car, Stefan kept catching Elena staring at him in the mirror and it was driving him crazy.  
She did it again and he sighed, "Elena, what is the problem?"  
She shook her head like it was nothing, but he just gave her a look and she finally spoke.

"I'm just worried."  
"About me?" he asked, giving her a weird look.  
"Kind of. About how you'll be around Caroline. She's really sensitive right now, and lately you don't seem to have a sensitive bone in your body."  
"And what is that supposed to mean?" he spat back with anger evident in his voice.  
"It means that you're not the same Stefan that you used to be! Your personality has hardened. You're angry all the time and you don't have the same spark that you use to.  
And you have every reason to feel the way you do after what you've been through. All I'm saying is that Caroline doesn't know you and she doesn't know what you've dealt with lately, and she's been through hell just like you have, so if you could just please, for me, try and be nice. You guys are more alike than you know and I know you're not happy about someone coming to stay with us, but she needs good people around her right now, and so do you."  
Stefan didn't want to speak, he was afraid he would blow up on Elena. He didn't really care what this girl had been through, it couldn't be worse than the hell he'd been living in for the past few months. And Elena had seen this first hand, so he didn't understand how she could be lecturing him right now. She didn't understand. Her and Damon had always been perfect. Elena had no clue what it was like to have your heart ripped from her chest and stomped all over. She just didn't get it,  
So instead, he simply just nodded his head and kept silent.  
"That's enough of the heavy crap for today, okay guys?" Damon said, giving them both looks.  
For once, Stefan was thankful his brother spoke up. He loved his best friend, but she was really pissing him off.

After sitting at the airport and waiting for over 30 minutes, Stefan was getting seriously impatient. He wanted to just go home and go for a run to burn off some of his anger from the day. He was just about to express his irritation when he heard Elena squeal.

"CAROLINE!"

And then he saw her.

The long blonde hair; the thousand watt smile that she was giving to Elena; she was stunning.

The girls walked over to him and Damon and his brother gave her a hug, "Nice to see you again, Blondie."  
Stefan felt a sudden jealousy that his brother had already met her.  
Caroline laughed as she hugged Damon and Stefan swore it was the greatest sound he'd ever heard.  
"It's good to see you too, Damon. I've missed you guys!"

Elena finally turned toward Stefan, "Caroline, this is my pain in the ass best friend that I've told you about, and Damon's brother, Stefan. Stefan, this is Caroline Forbes."

When she turned to look at him, he felt as though all of the air in his lungs had been punched out.  
She had the most beautiful blue eyes that he'd ever seen. He just wanted to stare into them for hours.

He regained his composure when he saw her hand reached out to shake his.  
"It's nice to finally meet you, Stefan. These two have told me so much about you." She gave him the most genuine smile and he felt his knees go weak.  
He took her hand in his, "It's nice to meet you too, Caroline. And whatever these two have told you, just ignore all of it", he told her with a smirk playing on his lips.  
She giggled and he smiled, happy with himself for making her laugh.

" _What the hell is wrong with me?" he thought to himself._

As Stefan was lost in his thoughts, Elena was helping Caroline get her bags in the car, and unknown to him, Damon was standing back with a smirk on his face after watching the interaction between Caroline and his brother.

 **So, that's the first chapter! I hope you guys enjoyed and will continue to read the rest of this story! The next couple of chapters will be posted within a day or two. This is my very first time every writing a fanfic, so any reviews I get will be greatly appreciated! Thanks everyone!**


	2. Chapter 2

They finally got back to the house after, what Stefan felt, was the longest car ride every with Caroline sitting right next to him.  
Elena was showing Caroline around the house when Damon stepped next to him and bumped his shoulder into Stefan's.  
"She's pretty great, isn't she?" Damon asked his brother, giving him his signature smirk.  
Stefan rolled his eyes, "Don't start Damon. She's just some girl".  
Damon laughed at his brother, "I promise you Stef, Caroline Forbes is not a normal girl, you'll see."

Damon walked over to the girls and Stefan heard him tell Caroline, "You can take the room next to Stefan's, it has the best view in the house!"  
Stefan snapped his head around to his brother only to see Damon smiling right at him. Elena caught the exchange between the brothers and sent a glare in each of their directions knowing something was up between the two of them.  
Elena looked at Caroline, who thankfully didn't seem to notice anything, "You can pick whatever room you want, Care."  
"That room sounds fine, a nice view would be great! As long as Stefan doesn't mind having a neighbor", she said as she gave him a quick smile.  
Stefan's heart felt like it was going to pound out of his chest.  
"Not at all", he said returning her smile. "Let me show you to your room."  
He took her bags and they started up the stairs.

As soon as they were out of hearing range, Elena spun around looking directly at Damon as she was met with his ice blue eyes and smirk. She put a pointed finger right into his chest, "Whatever it is you're thinking Damon, un-think it, right now!"  
"Babe, I'm not doing anything", he told her shyly as he tried to wrap his arms around her waist.  
"No, Damon, I know you better than anyone, and I know when you're up to something! You know what Caroline just got out of, she needs time to heal."  
He looked at her with soft eyes and sighed, "Okay. I promise I'll behave."  
She smiled at him and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Thank you."

Upstairs, Stefan and Caroline walked into the guest room. He set her bags next to the bed as she walked over to the big window. As she looked out, she was taken back with how beautiful the view really was. Damon wasn't kidding. There were acres upon acres of colorful trees and flowers that surrounded a large lake. There were even a few wild horses in the distance.  
She turned to Stefan, only to see he was already watching her. "This is one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen."  
Stefan smiled at her. The sun was peering through the window and was hitting her face so perfectly, she was breathtaking. "It sure is", he simply told her, not talking about the outside view at all.  
She smiled back at him and he suddenly felt a blush creep onto his cheeks.  
"I'll uh, - I'll let you get settled in", he went to turn around and walk out when her voice stopped him.  
"Stefan, I just wanted to say thank you, for letting me stay here. I don't know how much—", she stopped and he swore he could see tears in her eyes and he felt a sting of pain in his chest at seeing her looking sad.  
"I don't know how much Elena has told you about me, but I really do appreciate this."  
He gave her a small smile, "It's really no problem at all, Caroline. Elena considers you family, and that means that I do too. We take care of our family."  
She just smiled and nodded her head.  
"I'll be right next door if you need anything", and with that he turned and walked out.  
Caroline sat on the edge of the bed as a single tear fell from her eyes. All she could think was, " _I'm finally safe"_

 **Sorry this chapter is so short! I really hope whoever is reading this story is enjoying it! Chapter 3 will be posted before tonight, chapter 4 might be posted tonight as well, but if not then it definitely will be tomorrow. Like I said before, this is my very first story so any reviews or comments are appreciated!**


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Stefan awoke early as usual, but today he didn't stay in bed for an extra two hours. He decided to go for that run that he never got yesterday.  
He made his way downstairs, quietly, knowing everyone else was still asleep. Except, he was taken by surprise when he reached the bottom of the stairs and saw Caroline getting ready to leave.  
"Caroline?", he whispered.  
She jumped and turned around. "Oh, Stefan! Geez, you scared the hell out of me!" And then Stefan saw a look of worry on her face.  
"Damnit, I woke you up, didn't I? I'm so sorry, I'm such a klutz sometimes and I tripped down a couple of the stairs. I didn't think it was that loud but you're awake now which means it was definitely loud. Great, Damon and Elena will probably be awake now too! Ugh, my first morning here and I'm already disturbing the people you live here, awesome!"  
Stefan couldn't help but laugh as she rambled on.  
When she had finally stopped, Stefan looked at her and smiled, "Caroline, I promise you didn't wake me up. I'm up this early pretty much every day. I just decided to go for a run before everyone else woke up. What are you doing up so early anyways?"  
"I was actually going for a run too!"

It was only then that he realized what she was wearing; short shorts and a tank top. He swallowed, hard. Her hair was up in a ponytail and she wasn't wearing any make-up. She was beautiful.

Caroline stood there and noticed the way he was looking her up and down and suddenly felt very self-conscious.

She cleared her throat and Stefan was finally pulled out of his thoughts.  
After a few seconds of awkward silence, she spoke up.  
"Well, since we're both going running, maybe we can just go together? You must know the best place to go and I'd probably get lost by myself anyways!"  
Stefan was embarrassed that she had caught him staring at her and was grateful when she finally filled the silence. He smiled at her, "Yeah, definitely. Let's get going."

Caroline was right next to him as they walked in silence. She couldn't help but to keep stealing glances of him. He was built like a Greek god. He was at least six feet tall, brown hair and piercing green eyes that made her feel like she could melt. And his arms, good god, his arms were the definition of perfect.

They kept walking and she found herself fantasizing what it would be like to be held in his strong arms. She smiled to herself thinking about it and suddenly a wave of memories hit her and her smile disappeared. She didn't deserve someone to hold her. Especially not someone like Stefan Salvatore.  
Elena had told her all about Stefan; what an amazing person he was, how he had the biggest heart and would do anything for the people he loved.  
She would never find someone like that, because she didn't deserve someone like that.  
She could feel the tears threatening to spill over.

Stefan touched her arm and she jumped like she'd been burned.  
"I'm so sorry", he said. "I seem to keep scaring you today."  
When she looked at him, he swore he could see fear in her eyes.  
"Are you okay?", he asked.  
She took a deep breath and the tears faded away.  
"Yeah, sorry. I've always been kind of jumpy. Can we start running now?"  
Before he even had a chance to respond, she had already taken off.

When they stopped, they were both completely out of breath.  
"You…run…really…fast", Stefan managed to get out between gasps for breath. "Like, really fast. Like you're running from a monster", he said it with a laugh, trying to be funny.  
He saw her entire body tense up when he said it.  
After a few seconds, her body language went back to normal and she acted like she hadn't heard what he'd said.  
"It really is so nice out here", she said while walking under a tree and into the shade. "Everything about this place is beautiful."  
Stefan could only nod his head in agreement. He was about to suggest a race back to the house, when he saw her lift up her tank top to wipe her face, and he saw something on her side. He didn't believe it at first, but it was the biggest bruise he'd ever seen.  
He let out a gasp and she immediately dropped the shirt back down and looked at him with a terrified look, knowing what he'd seen.  
Stefan walked over to her and went to put a hand on her shoulder, but she flinched away from him. He dropped his hands and took a step back.  
"Caroline, how did you get that bruise?"  
She wouldn't look at him, but she put the fake smile back on as she spoke, "Oh, that? I just walked into a door handle. I told you I was a klutz!"  
He didn't believe her, not even for a second, but he knew he didn't know her well enough to push her on the subject.  
He nodded his head and suggested they get back to the house for breakfast with Damon and Elena.  
She simply said "okay", and they ran back to the house in silence.  
They didn't speak at breakfast. She avoided him and stayed in her room for the rest of the day.  
Stefan spent the rest of his day feeling like shit. He knew she didn't walk into anything and his mind had gone to the worst possible thought of how she'd actually gotten that bruise. He felt nauseous just at the thought that someone could have hurt her.  
He'd only known her for less than 24 hours and he could already see what an amazing person she was, so why would anyone ever want to hurt her?  
He didn't know the answer right now but he promised himself that eventually he would make sure he found out.

 **And that's chapter 3! Any reviews or comments are always appreciated! Thank you guys for reading! Chapter 4 will be posted very soon!**


	4. Chapter 4

Over the next 5 weeks, things were normal. Stefan felt normal for the first time in months. And he couldn't help but notice that he'd started feeling like this when Caroline came around.  
They went running every morning, and even though they didn't talk about what happened that first morning, they seemed to talk about almost everything else.  
He felt like he'd known her his whole life. She told him about her dreams of being an interior designer and of wanting to move to a place like Los Angeles so she could work for celebrities and be rich. She told him about her mother passing away and the dark hole that she fell into shortly after that. And she told him about her fears of failing and disappointing her mom, even if she wasn't here anymore.  
Stefan was so intrigued by her. She wasn't like anyone he'd ever met before. She was kind, and smart, and bright and always seemed to have a smile on her face. He couldn't get enough of her.  
But even with everything Caroline had told him about herself, Stefan couldn't shake the feeling that she had a big secret that he wasn't sharing with him and it was driving him crazy. He wanted to know every single thing about her. And he couldn't keep himself from thinking about that bruise he'd seen on her side.

Stefan walked into Damon and Elena's room and saw his brother packing his suitcase for the vacation him and Elena were leaving for tomorrow.  
"Damon, I need to ask you something, and I really need you to be honest with me."  
"What's up Stefan?", he said as he kept packing.  
"What's the real reason that Caroline moved here?"  
Damon turned and looked at his brother, "Why do you want to know so bad Stef? You've been trying to find ways to ask that same questions for weeks now. What's going on with you?"  
Stefan took a deep breath, he wish Damon could just give him a straight answer. Elena knew the truth behind Caroline coming here, and if Elena knew, then Damon knew and Stefan was tired of feeling left out of the secret.  
"Damon, come on. Stop avoiding the question every time I ask and just tell me what happened."  
Still, Damon stayed quiet as he contemplated whether to tell Stefan the truth or not. He knew Elena was going to be so pissed, but his brother really seemed to care about this girl and he thought Stefan should know.  
While Damon was still thinking about it, Stefan told him, "I saw a massive bruise on her side Damon. She said she walked into a door, I know that's total bullshit. I think somebody hurt her."  
Stefan saw Damon's shoulders tense as he told him what he'd seen and with that Stefan knew he was right.  
Damon took a shaky breath in. Stefan saw anger in his brother's eyes, and then he spoke slow and calm.  
"Look Stefan, I can't give you any specifics because it's not my place to do so. What I will tell you is that Caroline was hurt, in more ways than one, and that's all I'm going to say on this situation."  
Damon saw the rage in Stefan's eyes build higher and higher as he told him that someone had hurt Caroline. Damon knew the two of them had been getting closer since she had arrived, but he didn't fully realize how much Stefan had already grown to care about her.  
"Stefan, don't do anything stupid, you understand me? If she wants to talk to you about it, she will. You have to give her time, she'll tell you her story when she's ready."  
Stefan let out an angry sigh and nodded his head. Even with the anger he felt right now at whoever it was who had hurt Caroline in the past, he knew his brother was right. He couldn't and wouldn't push her to tell him anything before she was ready.  
He got up and headed for the door, stopping before he was out of the room, "Thanks Damon."  
His brother just nodded his head and gave him a small smile.

The next morning, Caroline woke up with a smile on her face.  
Damon and Elena were going to be leaving today for a whole two weeks. And that meant that she and Stefan had the house completely to themselves. She couldn't help the butterflies that went crazy in her stomach at the thought of that. They'd gotten so close since she'd arrived in Mystic Falls and if she was being honest with herself, she knew she was falling for him, and that thought scared the living hell out of her.

After she'd showered and gotten dressed, she went downstairs and found everyone else already in the kitchen, Damon and Elena's bags near the front door.

Everyone ate breakfast together and then it was almost time for Elena and Damon to leave to catch their flight.

Elena pulled Caroline aside before they left, "Are you sure you're okay with us being away for this long?"  
Caroline smiled at her friend, she was so thankful to have her and to have Elena worrying about her.  
Caroline put her hands on her friends' shoulders, "Elena, I will be fine, I promise. If anything is wrong, Stefan will be here. You guys go and have a wonderful time. And take a million pictures!"  
Elena laughed at Caroline. She was so amazed by her. She'd been through so much and yet she always had a smile on her face and such a carefree attitude, she envied that about her.  
"Okay", Elena said, "We are out of here then. Call if you need anything at all!"  
Caroline promised that she would and then they were gone and it was just her and Stefan.

For the rest of the afternoon, Stefan was in the garage working on his car while Caroline was busying doodling possible ideas for how she wanted to decorate her room. It was far too bland for her taste.

Once it hit about 4 o'clock, she went and told Stefan so that they could make dinner together.  
He took a shower and met her back downstairs in the kitchen.  
Making fettuccine alfredo took longer than they thought it would since Caroline burned it the first time and they had to make a brand new one.  
After they'd eaten dinner, it was time for one of their new favorite traditions. They would hang out in the living room and find the worst movie on Netflix they could possibly find and spend two or three hours making fun of it. Caroline didn't think she'd ever laughed as hard in her life as she did during these nights with Stefan.  
Except, tonight, they decided to watch it in Stefan's room since the boys had broken the flat screen in the living room when they decided it was a good idea to play football in the house.

They found some ridiculous movie about a centipede and humans or something or other, when Caroline felt her eyes beginning to get heavy.  
Without even thinking, she moved over closer to Stefan and laid her head on his shoulder.

Stefan tensed his whole body when she put her head on his shoulder. He knew that she was just tired, but even so, it made his heart burst with joy to have her this close to him.  
He was falling hard for this girl, and he was absolutely terrified.  
He pulled the blanket up on their bodies more and looked down at her beautiful face.  
He gently cupped her check and brushed his thumb across it and smiled when she moved her head to lay more in his hand.  
Before he knew it, he was drifting off to sleep as well; both of them with smiles on their faces.

 **I hope you guys enjoyed chapter 4! Reviews and comments are always appreciated. Chapter 5 will be up soon! Thanks everyone!**


	5. Chapter 5

Stefan was awoken by an awful scream from the beautiful girl lying next to him.  
He sat up quickly as Caroline was thrashing next to him. She was having one hell of a nightmare.  
He could hear her mumbling things; 'get off of me', 'I didn't do anything wrong', 'please don't hurt me again'.

Stefan felt his heart break as he heard her.  
He put his hand on her shoulder to try and wake her and was instead met with an elbow straight into his jaw.  
He sucked in a hard breath of air and rubbed his jaw, trying to get the pain to go away. He turned back to her and put both of his hands on her arms to get her to sit still, then he tried to wake her softly.  
"Caroline, hey, you're safe. It's okay. Caroline, it's Stefan, please wake up."  
After some protest, she finally began to wake up and calm down from the nightmare.

Caroline opened her eyes and was met with a terrified look on Stefan's face as he was still rubbing his jaw.  
She sat up straight, realizing that she had hurt him during her nightmare and covered her face with her hands and started crying.  
"Oh god, Stefan, I am so sorry!"  
Stefan got on his knees directly in front of her and put his hands on each side of her face, "hey, don't you dare apologize, you didn't do anything!"  
"But I hurt you!" She was sobbing now.  
"Caroline, I'm okay, I promise. I'm fine. Right now all I'm worried about is you. I've never seen someone have such a violent nightmare before."  
Her crying continued as she dropped her head back down, "they don't happen as often anymore. Before I got here, it was almost every night. Now it's only maybe once a week, they're not bad anymore."  
Stefan's heart was breaking as he looked at this beautiful girl in front of him and watched her break down right before his eyes.  
"Care, why do these nightmares happen?"  
She shook her head back and forth harshly, not wanting to even speak.  
"Caroline, please, let me help you."  
"That's the thing Stefan, no one can help me."  
She sounded so broken and all he wanted to do was take her into his arms and protect her from everything.  
"I can help you Caroline, please give me the chance to prove that. Tell me what happened", he pleaded with her.

As Caroline lifted her head and looked at him, she could see tears in his beautiful green eyes.

She couldn't explain it, but she knew that she could trust Stefan with her life and with the thing that she'd kept hidden from everyone except for Elena and Damon.

She nodded her head, took a deep breath, and spoke slowly.  
"His name was Tyler, I met him my junior year and fell fast. It all happened pretty much how you'd expect. The first six months were absolutely perfect. He swept me off of my feet. We went on dates three or four nights a week to really fancy places, he would buy me gifts and jewelry and talked to me like I was the most important thing in his world. And then, slowly but progressively, things started to get really bad. He started to get really mean, verbally. He would tell me I was stupid and that I would never amount to anything or say that I wasn't good enough and that no one else would ever want me."

Stefan sat completely still and tried to prepare himself for the next part of the story that he knew was coming.

She drew in a shaky breath, "after about a year into things, that was the first time he hit me."

Stefan's entire body tensed and he balled his hands into fists. But Caroline didn't seem to notice, she seemed to be on autopilot now, remembering this horrible time in her life.

"He came home one night and I didn't have dinner ready yet. He just lost it. He started screaming about how I didn't do anything all day while he was slaving away at work and the least I could do was make sure his fucking dinner was ready by the time he got home.  
I'd never really been scared of him until that night. He charged at me and just slapped me right across the face.  
After that, it happened more often. First it was once or twice every two weeks; then it was once or twice every week and then eventually it was just every night.  
A year and a half into things, my mom passed away. She was the last family that I had, and after that, I really felt trapped. I didn't have anyone."

She paused for a moment and Stefan found the courage to speak and hoped that his voice wouldn't give out on him, "How did Elena and Damon find out?"

She looked at him and for the first time since they had woken up, she wore a small smile.

"Any time they'd come to visit they'd see some of the bruises but I always gave excuses. I know they always knew, but Elena told me she didn't know how to truly help me when I wouldn't tell her anything. And then this last time they came, it was like they had a plan. They came when Tyler was still at work and forced me to tell them what was going on.  
After I told them everything, Elena got up and started packing all of my stuff, anything she could get her hands on went in the suitcase. She tried to force me to go with them, but I just couldn't. I completely froze because I was terrified of what would happen if I left and he ever found me again. So I stayed and I made them leave.  
Not long after that, there was a really bad night. He had been drinking and the beating was worse than it had ever been before. He put me in the hospital this time, for two weeks. He would come every night after work and play the part of the perfect boyfriend for the hospital staff. Everyone told me I was so lucky to have someone like him by my side and I just had to smile and pretend that I felt so happy", she let out a sarcastic laugh and shook her head.  
"One of the days, when he was at work, I called Elena and told her what happened. She booked me a flight for the next day. He went to work the next morning, I checked myself out and got on my flight and was in Mystic Falls 4 hours later."

She let out a big sigh, letting Stefan know she was done with her story.

When she finally looked back up at him, he was crying, tears streaming down his face.  
He looked like he had every emotion possible running through him.  
She took her hand and gently cupped his cheek, "Stefan, it's okay. I'm okay now."

He shook his head as he tried to speak, "It's not okay Caroline, none of this is okay. You deserve the world, and that piece of shit deserves to be in a cell or in the ground!"  
He didn't mean for it to come out so harsh, but he couldn't help it.

"I'm sorry", he apologized.  
"I'm so sorry that you had to go through any of that, and I'm sorry that I didn't know you then and I'm sorry that I couldn't help you. Someone like you deserves to be told every single day just how amazing you are. You're more than good enough Caroline, and the truth is that no one deserves you. There is no one who is good enough for YOU. You're too good for any guy."

Caroline was the one who was crying now, she'd never heard someone talk about her like that before, and she couldn't help the blush that was now covering her cheeks.  
"Stefan, you have helped me. I've felt more like myself here in the last six weeks, than I have for the past two years of my life. And that's all thanks to you. I wasn't expecting to find someone like you, ever.  
You pulled me out of the black hole that I'd been in for two years. You saved me."

Stefan looked into her beautiful blue eyes and before he could change his mind, he took her into his arms and just held her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he swore he'd never felt something so perfect. She fit perfectly in his arms.

He couldn't believe how strong she was. She'd been through so much and yet she still had such a bright light in her. Her was completely amazed by her, she was incredible.

He laid back and pulled her into his chest, never wanting to let go.

"It's okay, Caroline. You're safe now, you don't ever have to be afraid again", he whispered to her as he kissed the top of her head.

Caroline sighed as she lay with her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. She felt content, but more importantly, she felt safe.

She drifted back to sleep that night knowing that she was in Stefan's arms, and got the best night's sleep she'd had in over a year.

 **That's it for chapter 5! I hope you guys liked it! As always, any reviews or comments are appreciated. Chapter 6 will be up soon!**


	6. Chapter 6

For the first time in as long as she could remember, Caroline awoke the next morning with a smile present on her face.  
She looked down and saw the arm that was draped over her waist. Slowly, as to not wake him, she turned over so she was facing him. He looked so peaceful as he slept. Her smile grew when he tightened his grip on her and unknowingly pulled her closer. She took her finger and gently ran it along his jaw line and made her way down his bicep. She really did love his arms.  
She pulled her finger away when she saw his eyes starting to open.

"Morning", she whispered.

He smiled when his eyes met hers. "Good morning beautiful", he said back.

She could feel the blush take over her whole face and the butterflies that were going crazy in her stomach.

They lay there just staring into each other's eyes, enjoying being in the other's arms.

Stefan swore he could lay there forever and be perfectly happy, but before long, his fantasy ended as she started to roll away from him and get off of the bed.

He reached for her hand before she could fully leave the bed, "Where do you think you're going?", he asked with a smile.

"Well, I'd really like to go take a shower, if that's okay with you Mr. Salvatore", she responded back with a playfulness in her voice.

She saw him smirk back at her and watched as his eyes started to darken with what she was sure was lust. She wasn't sure she wanted to know what he was thinking, so before he could respond, she turned and walked into the bathroom.

Stefan wanted to do something nice for her after the emotional night that she'd had. So he decided to do what he did best; cook.  
He made his way downstairs and into the kitchen and began to make her an amazing breakfast.

As she stood in the shower, with the hot water pouring around her, she felt a huge sense of relief. As difficult as it was for her to talk about, she was glad that she'd finally told Stefan the truth about her past. She knew she could trust him. She knew he wouldn't hurt her in any way like she'd been hurt before. She wanted him to know everything about her.

When Caroline made her way out of the bathroom, she saw that Stefan was no longer in bed. So, she got dressed and went downstairs to find him.  
She walked into the kitchen and was shocked at the spread that was laid out before her.  
In the 30 minutes that she'd been in the shower, Stefan had managed to make an entire breakfast buffet.  
Pancakes, waffles, eggs, French toast, bacon, sausage, fresh fruit; it seemed like every breakfast food possible was on the table.

"Stefan, you made all of this!?"  
When he turned around to answer her, his breath caught in his throat. She was standing there in a pair of shorts and one of his shirts. He didn't think he'd ever seen anything so sexy.

He cleared his throat and tried to find his words.

"Yes ma'am. I figured after last night, you should start today on a good note with a fantastic breakfast."

"Well this looks amazing and I am starving, so thank you! Also, I hope you don't mind but I haven't done any laundry lately and was out of shirts, so I borrowed one of yours."

"Not at all, it looks good on you", he said with smirk.

She looked down at her feet with a shy smile and he saw the blush that covered her cheeks as he said that. He loved it when she blushed.

"Well, have a seat and eat up before it gets cold!"

They sat together and ate while making small talk with one another.  
Stefan knew he needed to ask her now before his nerves got the best of him and he chickened out again.

"Caroline?"  
"Hmm?" she mumbled as she took another bite.  
"Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?" he asked and let out a shaky breath after he finally got the words out.  
She looked at him with a confused look on her face, "Don't we already have dinner together every night?" she asked with a laugh.  
"Well yeah, I know, but I would like to take you out to dinner tonight, to an actual restaurant, if you'll let me."  
Her eyes got big as she had a surprised look on her face.  
Was he actually asking her out?  
"Are you, uh- are you asking me on a date?"  
He gave her a big smile, "Yes, I am asking you on a date Ms. Forbes."  
Caroline felt her stomach do a million flips. She knew they'd reached a new level last night in whatever was going on between them, but she still hadn't expected him to ask her out.

It was taking her a while to answer and Stefan started to think that maybe he shouldn't have asked. What if she wasn't feeling what he was? He didn't want to ruin the friendship that they'd built and making her uncomfortable by asking her out.

"It's okay if you don't want to, really, it's fine", he said trying to back out of the question, already feeling like an idiot for thinking that she would say yes.

"NO! I'd love to go out with you tonight Stefan", she said quickly.

Stefan was sure his cheeks were going to hurt for a week with how big he was smiling at her.

"Great! I have a couple of errands to run, so I'll see you tonight, okay?" he told her as he got up quickly.  
"Okay, I'll see you tonight" she responded with a smile of her own.

After he'd left the room, Caroline kicked her feet like a little kid. She was unbelievably excited.  
Then one thought crossed her mind, _crap, now I REALLY need to do laundry and find something to wear!_

 **Sorry this chapter was so short guys. But next up, Stefan and Caroline have their very first date, and I promise there will be lots of fluff! The story will start to move quite a bit faster from here on out. I'm already in the process of writing Chapter 7 and that will be posted by tomorrow night. As always, reviews and comments are appreciated! Thanks everyone!**


	7. Chapter 7

Stefan looked around nodding his head and admired his work. He was pretty pleased with himself for everything he'd gotten done in the last few hours.  
He looked down at his watch and saw that it was already 5 o'clock, he needed to get home and get ready if he wanted this night to start on time.

He made his way into the house and up the stairs and noticed Caroline was still in her room. He figured he had about 30 minutes to get ready so he jumped in the shower right away.  
Once he got out, he did his hair and quickly got dressed. He smoothed out the arms of his jacket and sprayed some cologne on. He was nervous as hell, but he was definitely ready for whatever this night was going to bring.

Caroline put the finishing touches on her make-up and looked at herself in the full length mirror, she was more than pleased with her appearance for the evening and hoped Stefan would be too. Her stomach did flips, like it'd been doing since he asked her out this morning. She was unbelievably nervous for tonight, but definitely more excited than anything.  
She took one final look at herself, grabbed her clutch, and was ready to go.

Stefan was waiting at the bottom of the stairs when he heard her coming down.

His breath caught in his throat and his jaw dropped to the floor when he got his first glimpse of her. He couldn't find words; she was gorgeous, plain and simple.

Her hair was down and curled, she had on a tight blue dress that went to her mid-thigh and made her eyes look bluer than he'd ever seen before. She had heels on that made her legs look a mile long. He felt his pants suddenly become a little bit tighter. He was sure this girl was going to be the death of him.

"Wow…", was all he managed to get out when she finally reached the bottom of the stairs.  
"You look….there are no words for how beautiful you look Caroline."

She shot him one of her brilliant smiles, "well thank you, you don't look so bad yourself there, handsome!", she said while taking in the sight of him as well. He really did look so good in his black slacks and his black button up shirt.

He sent her a smile back. "Shall we?", he asked while offering her his arm.  
She nodded her head while slipping her arm through his.

They walked outside and Caroline saw a red Porsche in the driveway that she'd never seen before.

"Whose car is this?" she asked with a confused look.  
Stefan smiled, "It's mine. But I only take it out for special occasions."  
She smiled back at him, "Well, I feel honored, Mr. Salvatore."

They drove through town for about 15 minutes before they pulled up to The Grill.  
Stefan looked over at her and saw the disappointed look on her face that they were coming to a place they'd been so often.  
He smiled to himself; he couldn't wait until she saw what was actually set up for her.

He went around to her side of the car and opened the door for her.  
She started to walk to the front door of the restaurant before she felt Stefan grab her hand, "We're not going in there", he told her.  
She gave him another confused look and was just given a smile back in response.

Stefan led her to the side of the building where he opened a different door that just had stairs in it.  
They made their way up the stairs and Caroline realized they were going to the roof.

She let out a gasp of complete shock when he opened the door and saw what was in front of her.  
She couldn't believe it.

There was a gazebo like structure around the whole roof with twinkling lights hanging from it. There were flower pedals all over the floor and in the middle of everything was a small table set for two. There was a candle lit in the middle of the table and two place settings waiting for them.

Stefan was standing behind her with a huge smile covering his face. He had gotten the response he was hoping for; she loved it.

"Stefan….you did all of this…for me?" she asked with tears in her eyes.  
"Of course, a first date is supposed to be special."  
"It's just…no one has ever done thing kind of thing for me before. This is amazing."  
He placed his hand on the small of her back, "you deserve all of it and more."  
She turned around to face him, put her hand on his chest and kissed him on the cheek, "thank you."  
Stefan was the one with the blush all over his face now. "It's my pleasure, Ms. Forbes. Come on, let's go eat before our food gets cold!"

He pulled out her chair for her and took his own seat.  
The food was great and the conversation was even better.

"Stefan, this has been so wonderful, thank you so much."  
I'm glad you're enjoying yourself", he said as he took her hands in his. "The truth is, I want to do this for you every night, Caroline. You've only been in my life a few shorts months, and yet, I feel like I've known you my whole life. You coming back to Mystic Falls has been the greatest thing that's happened in my life, maybe ever. I didn't think I'd ever be happy again after what happened with Katherine. I was so broken after she'd hurt me, I didn't want to believe that there was something better out there for me; someone better. But then you walked into my life and suddenly there was no more dark cloud above my head. I knew the second I laid eyes on you that you were something special, someone to be adored and cherished. You saved me too."

Caroline was sure she could feel her heart about to beat out of her chest. No one had ever said anything so wonderful to her. She was pretty sure that after the other night, and the way that he'd been so attentive to her and taken care of her and told her that she was safe, that she might have fallen in love with him then. But hearing him say this to her, she was more sure than ever that she was in love with Stefan Salvatore.

She knew he would never hurt her, that she would always be safe in his arms. But even with that, she was still terrified. She had been hurt so badly before, emotionally and physically, she didn't know how to completely lower those walls that were keeping her from just telling him exactly how she felt.

"Stefan, this has been the most amazing night that I think I've ever had. You have been so wonderful to me since I got here and I can't thank you enough for everything you've done for me. And I think it's fairly obvious that I feel the same way about you, there's no denying that. But, if we're going to do this, please be patient with me. There are still some things that I'm working through myself and I just don't know if I can jump into this right now. I know it's not fair of me to ask that of you, not after everything you've done for me, but I have to heal 100% before I take this leap."

Stefan held her hands tighter in his. He knew she was still so scared, and he couldn't blame her after everything that she'd been through. But he was going to make sure that she was never hurt again, no matter how long he had to wait.

He looked deep into her eyes, "Caroline, I will be patient for however long you need me to be. I promise you that I will never hurt you, you will always be safe with me. And whenever you're ready for me, I will be ready for you. I will wait for you, because you are worth the wait." He ended his declaration by kissing her on the back of her hand.

"Now, let's finish this night on a good note; it's time for dessert!" he told her with a wink.

She just laughed at him and nodded her head.

She knew it wasn't going to take very long for those walls to come crashing down when it was Stefan who was breaking through them.

 **So, what did you guys think of Steroline's first date? I hope it lived up to your expectations! Chapter 8 is already in process and will be posted before tomorrow night. Everything from chapter 8 on, is going to be Rated M. Things are going to get steamy veryyy soon!  
As always, reviews and comments are appreciated! Thanks everyone! **


	8. Chapter 8

***DISCLAIMER: just in case nobody noticed, the rating on this story has been changed from T to M. The next few chapters will have things that aren't very kid friendly. So, if you are sensitive to the things you read, just proceed with caution! I hope you guys like the chapter!**

Over the next week, Caroline didn't think things could be any more perfect. She and Stefan spent every minute together. The only time they were apart was when they were sleeping. She knew that she'd fallen asleep next to him before, on the couch and then in his bed, but now, things were different. They were slowly moving into the territory of being in a relationship and Caroline wanted to take things slow; sleeping in his bed, especially now that both of their feelings were out in the open, probably wasn't such a good idea. She wasn't sure should would be able to control herself sleeping right next to him now.

The last two days, Stefan had been helping her decorate her room. They went to every interior design store within a 100 miles of Mystic Falls. She knew it was probably driving Stefan crazy that she was dragging him around all over the place, but he didn't complain at all, not even once. He smiled the whole time and was even helpful when it came to picking out stuff for the room. He was amazing.

They were now standing in her room, putting the last touches on everything. Caroline took a step back and looked at her finished product. She smiled to herself, it really did look fantastic!

"Stefan! Come and tell me what you think!"

It took a couple of minutes, but Stefan came into the room with something behind his back.

"Wow, you did an amazing job in here Caroline, it's perfect."  
She smiled at him, "WE did an amazing job. Thank you so much for all of your help on this, I don't know if I could have done it without you."

He took a step forward and put one hand on the small of her back, with his other hand, he pulled out something from behind his back and handed it to her, it was in wrapping paper.

"This is for you."  
"What is this for?" she asked with a confused look.

Stefan just smiled and nodded his head at her, telling her to open it.

She tore the paper off and let out a surprised gasp, which was followed by tears.  
She couldn't believe it.

"Stefan….how did you-", she couldn't even finish the question.

"I saw it when we were going through one of your boxes the other day. I noticed it had tears in it, I figured you'd rather have one that was perfect."

Stefan had found a picture of Caroline and her mother. She was 7 years old and her mom was teaching her how to ride her bike. They were standing next to a big oak tree, Liz kneeling down at Caroline's level, they were looking at each other and both had brilliant smiles on their faces.  
It was her favorite picture of her and her mom.  
The original one had been ruined by Tyler during one of his violent outbursts over a year ago.

Stefan had seen the messed up picture and took it to one the shops in town. They were able to blow up the picture and put it on a beautiful canvas back round. It turned out perfect.

She was choking back sobs now.

"Thank you so much, you don't know how much this means to me", she managed to get out when she caught her breath.

She turned around and threw her arms around his neck, his arms finding their way around her waist.

"Anything for you, beautiful", he whispered to her as he brushed a piece of hair from her eyes.

The look in his eyes took her breath away. She knew that look; it was the same one she knew she'd been giving him. It was a look of love.

He brought his hand to the side of her face and brushed his thumb across her cheek.

Caroline looked down at his lips as she licked hers. She had to do it.

She tilted her head up and slowly brushed her lips to his. It didn't last longer than three seconds, but it was filled with passion and love, it was the perfect first kiss. When she pulled back to look at him, the look in his eyes was all she needed to do it again.

This time though, their kiss was filled with urgency and want.

Stefan ran his tongue over her bottom lip and she gladly granted him access.  
He moaned as they explored each other's mouths for the first time.

Stefan lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he pushed her into the wall.  
Caroline grabbed the bottom of his shirt and quickly pulled it over his head before her lips were back on his.  
With her still wrapped around him, Stefan walked over to the bed and gently laid her on her back.  
As he stood in front of her, Caroline was in awe of his body. His broad shoulders flowing into his strong arms. His abs were perfectly sculpted and he had the most amazing V line on both sides of his hips. She felt the fire building in the pit of her stomach with each passing second. She needed to feel him, now.

Stefan stood above her, watching her as she ran her eyes all over his body.

He took a step forward and grabbed the hem of her shirt, but he stopped himself before he made another move.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked her. "We can stop right now, it would be fine. I know you said you wanted to wait and I don't want you to-"  
"Stefan, look at me" she told him as she sat up and wrapped one arm around his neck.  
He looked into her eyes and instantly knew the answer; she wanted this just as badly as he did.  
"There is not one second of this that I'm going to regret, I promise."

That was all he needed to hear.

He pulled her shirt over her head and his lips instantly found their way to her neck.  
He left a trail of kisses from her neck, over her chest, and on her stomach as he reached the top of her jeans.

He undid the button and pulled down the zipper.  
As he removed her first leg, he made sure to kiss every inch of her leg, down to her ankle, slowly.  
He removed her other leg kissing her just as slowly.  
He moved to lay over her with one knee between her legs. He kissed her lips as she roamed her hands all over his back.

Stefan slipped his hand behind her back and unclasped her bra, sliding it down each arm while never breaking his lips from hers.

Caroline moaned in his mouth when she felt him take one of her breasts in his hand.

Stefan moved his lips down to her breasts, taking a nipple between his teeth while he rolled the other one between his fingers.

She threw her head back in pleasure when she felt his hand between her legs. His fingers were brushing back and forth over her folds.  
She almost went over the edge when his thumb began rubbing against her clit.  
Stefan started sucking on her bundle of nerves and she had to trip the bed sheet to stop herself from moving all over the place. That boy knew exactly what to do with her mouth.

"mmm", she moaned loudly as her fingers found their way into his hair.

Stefan smiled to himself when he felt her trying to pull his face closer.

"You're so wet for me, Caroline." He told her with a devious smile on his lips.

She wanted to respond, but all air left her lungs when she felt him slide a finger into her.

She bucked her hips in the air as he moved in and out of her while his mouth continued its assault on her clit.

He then slid in another finger as his other hand moved back up to her breast and he massaged her nipple.

Stefan sped up his pace going in and out and soon felt her walls tighten on his fingers.

"Cum for me baby" he whispered to her as he saw her head tilt back and watched as her orgasm shot through her whole body.

He continued rubbing her clit with his thumb until he saw her breathing start to calm down.

"WOW!" was all she could get out when he finally stopped and got back on the bed to lay next to her. "You…are…amazing."

Stefan let out a small laugh and kissed her until they both needed to come up for air.

He laid his head back with a content sigh and before he knew what was happening, Caroline had climbed on top of him and was straddling his waist.

"What are you doing crazy girl?"  
"Oh, you didn't think this night was over did you?" she answered with a devious smile of her own.

She reached down and undid his belt and jeans button before slowly sliding his pants down his legs. She grabbed the hem of his boxers and pulled them down, her eyes widening as she took in his size.

She took his cock in her hand and started moving up and down on his length. She heard him suck in a big breath of air as his head fell back.

Stefan almost came on the spot when he suddenly felt her lips on the tip. She started moving her head up and down, faster and faster. He didn't know how much longer he'd be able to last with the speed that she was going. After another minute, he couldn't take it any longer; he needed to be inside of her, now.

In one quick motion, Caroline felt him grab her arm, pull her up and rolled on top of her, attacking her mouth as soon as he was above her.

She felt his tip at her opening and saw his smile as he moved back and forth.

"Stefan, please don't tease me! I nee…I need…"  
"Tell me what you need, Caroline."  
"I need to feel you inside of me."

And with that, he quickly slid inside of her, loving the feeling of her warmth.

He waited a moment, to allow her to get used to his size, before he started moving in and out of her. Caroline meeting him with her hips at every thrust.

They moved in synch, with such ease, like they'd done this a hundred times before.

Stefan loved the sounds that were coming from her. Her head was tilted back and her eyes closed as she lay beneath him, gaining more and more pleasure with each thrust into her.

Before long, he could feel as her wall began to clench around his member. He felt her legs shake as her orgasm ripped through her.

"ohhh, Stefan! Harder, please!"

He moved his hips harder and faster and felt his cock beginning to grow inside of her.  
With one last hard thrust into her, his own orgasm poured into her.

They rode out their orgasms together and tried to catch their breaths. He rolled off of her and pulled her into him, wrapping his arms tightly around her.

"You are amazing, Caroline. I've never felt anything like that before."  
She smiled into his chest, "neither have I. That was incredible."

He kissed her gently and she sighed into their kiss and they fell into a perfect slumber.

 **There you have it, Steroline's first time! I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, it feels like it took me forever to write it! As always, reviews and comments are greatly appreciated! Chapter 9 will be up tomorrow or Thursday. Thanks everyone!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hi everyone!** **HAPPY HALLOWEEN** **! Thank you all for being so patient with me for this next chapter, being sick sure does suck! Anyways, I hope you guys like this chapter!**

Stefan awoke the next morning and smiled down at the beautiful girl wrapped in his arms. He didn't think he'd ever been this happy before; Caroline made him feel alive again.

She stirred in his arms and gave him a shy smile when she opened her eyes to see him staring at her.

"Good morning beautiful", he whispered while pressing a kiss to her forehead.

She looked back up at him and brushed her finger over his jaw line, "good morning."

Stefan trapped her chin between his fingers and leaned down to kiss her.

Caroline could feel the passion behind the kiss as soon as his lips touched hers. It made her heart race.

"So, " she started when they both pulled away, needing air. "I was thinking that we could both probably use a shower.." she said shyly as she trailed her finger over his bare chest.

Her eyes met his and she saw the devilish smile playing across his lips along with a look of pure lust as his eyes turned dark.  
Before she could even say another word, Stefan had already jumped out of bed to run in the bathroom and start the shower.  
She lay in the bed laughing at how fast he moved. After a couple of minutes, she saw him come out of the bathroom and start walking over to the bed. "Your shower is all ready for you Ms. Forbes."

Caroline laughed and swung her legs off of the bed, but before she could even stand up, Stefan had swooped her up into his arms. She let of a squeal, "Stefan, what are you doing!?" she asked with a laugh.  
"I've decided that you aren't allowed to do anything for yourself today. I am at your every beck and call for the day", he told her as they stepped into the bathroom and he closed the door behind them.  
He set her down and she kinked her eyebrow and gave him a smirk, "Well, I suppose that could definitely have its perks", she told him while she looked him up and down. His body was perfect, she could literally stare at him all day.

The way she was looking at him was making Stefan's head go crazy. He opened the door to the shower and motioned for her to step in and then he closed the door behind them.

Caroline stood under the hot water. She could feel Stefan's eyes on her as she got her hair wet. She opened her eyes and saw Stefan staring at her, licking his lips. She took a step towards him and placed her hands on his chest, as his found their way to her hips. Just the feeling of his hands on her sent a shock through her whole body.

Stefan leaned down and kissed her hungrily. He ran his tongue along her bottom lip and she quickly granted him access. He gently pushed her against the shower wall as he continued to ravish her mouth and she moaned into their kiss.  
He moved his lips to her neck and began to move his way down her body. His mouth found its way to both of her breasts and took each of her nipples into his mouth. He left hot kisses down her stomach. He felt Caroline buck her hips when he pressed a kiss on her mound but didn't linger there. He trailed his tongue down the inside of each of her thighs.  
He places his hands back on her waist and made his way back up her body. He pressed his lips to hers, hard, almost desperate to feel them again.

Caroline let out a gasp into the kiss when she felt his hand move between her legs. He fingers slid between her folds and his thumb found her clit.

Stefan slid down her body until his lips found her bundle of nerves. He took it in his mouth as he slowly slipped two fingers inside of her. As soon as he did that, he felt her knees shake, like there were going to buckle right under her. He wrapped his other arm around the back of her legs to steady her as he continued to move his fingers in and out of her.

Caroline was having a hard time catching her breath. Every move he made, made her feel like she was going over the edge.

After a few more strokes, she felt her orgasm hit and she was moaning out Stefan's name as she collapsed into his arms.

Stefan took her into his arms and swallowed her moans in his mouth as she rode out her orgasm.

She finally caught her breath and stood to her feet, still wrapped in his arms.  
"Wow, if this is what it's going to be like every time, I don't know if we're ever going to leave this house", she told him while placing a kiss on his lips.  
Stefan laughed, "You're not going to get an objection from me on that."

Caroline reached behind him and shut off the shower and opened the door to grab a towel.  
They stepped out and Stefan took the towel from her and began to dry off every inch of her body.

Once he finished drying them both off, he grabbed her hand and led them back into the bedroom and gently laid her down on the bed so she was laying on her back. He slowly climbed on top of her, his eyes never leaving hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down into a passionate kiss as his hands moved all over her body.

Caroline rolled them over, her naked body now covering his, never once breaking their kiss.  
She moved her lips to his neck and then down his chest. She moved back to his lips as she reached down and took his growing length in his hand. He let out a growl and Caroline smiled into their kiss, loving the effect that she had on him.  
She moved her hand up and down, increasing her speed slowly, never letting her lips leave his.

"Caroline…." He growled again into their kiss.  
"What is it baby?" she asked with a sly smirk playing on her lips.

He couldn't take it anymore. He responded by flipping them back over and in one swift motion he slid inside of her. He slammed his lips into hers as be began moving in and out of her faster and faster.

Caroline could already feel another orgasm beginning to build in her.  
"Stefan…please…"  
He moved harder and faster, knowing his own release was coming soon.  
She wrapped her legs around his waist to pull him as close to her as possible as he slammed in and out of her.  
He felt her walls close around his hard cock as she moaned out his name for a second time that morning and that's all it took.  
Stefan pumped into her two more times before he came and gently collapsed on top of her, both of them panting as they tried to catch their breath.

"This just keeps getting better and better with you, doesn't it?" he asked her between breaths.  
She laughed, "god I hope so", she said back to him as he caressed her face and she placed a loving kiss to his lips.  
He hoped so too; making love to her was the greatest feeling that he'd ever had, he never wanted this feeling to go away.

And that's exactly how they spend the next four days; tangled in each other, never wanting it to end.

 **I hope you guys liked this chapter. The next one will have them out of the bedroom finally as Damon and Elena return home to see that things between these two have changed quite a bit!  
I'm already writing the next chapter, it might even be up before the end of tonight, no promises though! But if not, then it most definitely will be tomorrow! I hope everyone had a great day! Reviews and comments are always appreciated! **


	10. Chapter 10

After locking themselves in the bedroom for the last four days, the time had finally come for Stefan and Caroline to rejoin the outside world. It had been two weeks and today was the day that Damon and Elena were coming home and the two of them needed to pick them up from the airport.

Caroline finished her shower, got dressed and went downstairs to the kitchen to find Stefan making them breakfast.

"So", she said when we entered the room, Stefan turning around to meet her with a smile.  
So…?" he responded back.  
"What are we going to tell Damon and Elena about us?" she asked with a concerned look on her face.

Stefan walked over to her and caressed her face, "Well, I'd like say, Welcome home you guys, I hope you had an amazing trip. By the way, have you met my girlfriend, Caroline?" he said, making sure to emphasize the word girlfriend.  
Caroline felt the blush take over as her whole face got hot. They'd never talked about what their relationship status was and not knowing had terrified her considering she was definitely in love with this man. Hearing him call her his girlfriend made her so unbelievably happy.  
"Is that okay with you, Ms. Forbes?" he asked with a smirk on his lips.  
"That is more than okay with me, boyfriend" she said back with a big smile as she placed a long kiss on his lips.  
Stefan laughed as he kissed her back; Caroline Forbes was all his and that thought made his heart was just burst with joy.

They finished their breakfast and headed off to the airport.

"ELENA!" Caroline yelled out when they finally saw the two brunettes walking towards them. Well, Damon was walking towards them with their luggage, Elena had started running full speed towards Caroline like they hadn't seen each other in years.

"Oh my gosh, I missed you SO much, Care!", Elena said as the two girls embraced in a hug.

Stefan and Damon just laughed and shook their heads.  
Stefan walked over to his brother to help him with the luggage.  
"Welcome home, Damon. Did you guys have a good time?"  
"Just wait for it", his brother told him with a smirk and Stefan gave him a confused look.

That's when he heard Carline let out another scream.  
"OH MY GOD, YOU'RE ENGAGED!"

Stefan looked back at his brother with wide eyes.  
"You got engaged!?" he asked him.  
Damon just smiled, "Sure did!"  
Now it was Stefan's turn to pull his brother into a hug.  
"Well it's about damn time!" he told Damon.

Stefan walked over to the girls and pulled Elena into a bear hug.  
"I am so happy for you guys. Now you'll officially be my sister" he told her with a kiss to the side of her head.  
"Thank you Stefan, I can't wait!"

"You totally have to let me plan your engagement party!" Caroline said to Elena and Damon when they were headed back to the house.  
"A party?" Damon asked, sounding less than pleased.  
"Oh come on, Damon. You know I can throw one hell of a party, and you won't have to do anything. Just show up looking nice and then drink for free all night." She told him.  
Damon thought about it for a second, "Well, in that case, sign me up Blondie!" They all laughed and Caroline went into talking details about the party in the back seat while the brothers sat up front.

"So", Damon said, eyeing his brother.  
"So, what?" Stefan asked, not turning to look at Damon.  
"Oh come on, Stef, tell me that nothing happened between the two of you while we were gone." Damon whispered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.  
Stefan looked at his brother with a smile playing on his lips. Damon's eyes got wide, "I KNEW IT!" he yelled out, making the girls stop their conversation.  
"Knew what?" Elena asked, suddenly interested in what the boys were talking about.  
"Oh, nothing." Damon said, trying to pretend that he didn't know anything.

Stefan looked in the mirror and saw Caroline with a surprised look on her face and he just shot her a wink letting her know it was okay.  
She nodded her head and took a deep breath, "Elena, there's something I should probably tell you."  
Elena turned back to her friend, a worried look on her face. "What's going on, Care?"  
"Well, while you and Damon were gone…Stefan and I sort of…umm.." she was struggling to find the right words.  
"Caroline is my girlfriend" Stefan told them with such ease.  
Caroline shot him a grateful smile in the mirror as he sent her another wink.  
"What!? How in the world did that happen?" Elena asked, clearly confused.  
"It's kind of a long story.." Caroline started, "But it just sort of happened and it's been perfect." She said to her friend with a big smile.  
"Well then, I guess there's more congratulations to go around then" Damon said with a smile as he slapped his brother on the back.  
Caroline looked back at Elena, who still hadn't said anything, and saw tears in her eyes.  
"Elena, what's wrong?" she asked with a worried voice. "Please don't be mad! We weren't trying to take away the thunder from your engagement, we just didn't want you guys to be mad that we didn't tell you right away."  
"I'm not mad Caroline. I'm so happy that I'm crying." She said with a laugh and Caroline gave her a confused look.

"Caroline, you've been through so much. You deserve nothing less than the best, and well…you found the best with Stefan." She told her friend with a genuine smile.  
"You guys are honestly perfect for each other, and I just couldn't be any happier for the both of you that you found each other, this is amazing." She said as more tears fell.

Caroline was the one crying now. "Oh, Elena, thank you so much. You have no idea how much it means to me to have your blessing on this."  
"And me too", Stefan said as he looked back at his girlfriend and best friend. "I am so happy that you and Damon are so happy, and well, Caroline makes me just as happy, so thank you guys for your support." He said as his eyes never left Caroline's.

Both of the girls looked at each other, and as if they could read the other's mind, said, "Now we can go on double dates!"

Stefan and Damon both laughed and groaned at their girls in the back seat.

"I told you she was amazing, didn't I?" Damon said with a smirk.  
Stefan let out a small laugh, smiling at his brother. "You sure did, and you were so right. I've never been this happy before Damon, everything just feels right with her", he told his brother.  
"I really am happy for you Stefan."  
"Thanks big brother, I'm really happy for you too", he told him, both brothers smiling as they listened to their girls rambling and laughing in the back seat. Life was pretty perfect right now for the four friends. What could possibly go wrong?

 **Sorry this chapter seemed so short guys, it was more just a lead into the next chapter which will be Damon and Elena's engagement party. What's the worst that could happen at a party? Next chapter will be up hopefully by tomorrow night. Hope you guys enjoyed this one though! As always, reviews and comments are appreciated!**


	11. Chapter 11

Caroline looked around the room feeling pretty great about the work she'd done. They rented out The Grill for Damon and Elena's engagement party and she had only taken one week to make the place look spectacular. She hoped Damon and Elena would love it. She looked at the time and saw it was already 4:30; she needed to get home and get ready before the party started at 7.

Stefan and Damon waited in the kitchen for the girls to finish getting ready. It was already 6:30 and Damon was sure they were going to be late to their own party.  
"Elena, we're going to be late! Can we please go? I'm sure you look great!" he yelled up the stairs.  
Stefan laughed at his brother. Damon knew better by now not to expect these girls to be ready on time for anything.  
"Damon, did you really think we were ever going to be on time to this thing?" he asked him.  
"Well considering it's our freaking engagement party I was hoping that we would be there before everyone else."  
"You're dreaming brother", Stefan told him with a laugh.

Just then, both of the girls came down the stairs together and the brothers were no longer laughing.

Elena walked over to Damon as Stefan made his way to Caroline.  
"You look incredible, Caroline", Stefan told her with a kiss to her cheek.  
"Well thank you handsome", she responded with a blush and a smile.  
They looked over and saw Damon and Elena all over each other and Stefan rolled his eyes.  
"Do you think they'd notice if we just left without them?" He asked her.  
Caroline laughed, "I'm going to say they don't even remember that we're in the same room."  
"HEY!", Stefan yelled to the two.  
Elena pulled away with the guilty look of a little kid who just got caught with their hand in the cookie jar.  
"Sorry guys, just can't help myself sometimes, have you seen my fiancé?" Damon asked with his signature smirk.

Caroline and Elena laughed as Stefan just rolled his eyes again.  
"Alright everyone, let's get this party started!" Caroline shouted as she and Elena took off for the car.

Stefan swore Caroline hadn't taken a breath since they got to the party. She'd been running around The Grill trying to make sure everyone was having a good time and yelling at the catering staff. It was driving him crazy, he just wanted a minute alone with his girl.

He was standing by the pool tables when he heard her voice coming from the kitchen, "SERIOUSLY!?"  
He decided it was time for him to help her de-stress a little bit.  
He walked in the kitchen and saw her trying to fix a couple of cupcakes that had fallen off of the holder.

She turned when she heard him come in, "This is a disaster!" she exclaimed.  
"What is?" he asked.  
"These cupcakes fell and now they're ruined which means that half of the dessert tray is now ruined! This was not supposed to happen!"  
Stefan couldn't help but laugh, she was so cute when she was in control freak mode.  
He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.  
"Hey, I promise you that dessert is not ruined. You still have a ton of stuff for them to put out."  
She turned in his arms so she was now facing him, "I just wanted everything to be perfect for Elena and Damon", she said with a pout.  
"I know you did, that's just one of the things that makes you so amazing", he said as he kissed her forehead.  
"But you have done such a wonderful job with this party, Care. Everyone is having so much fun and Damon and Elena are on cloud nine. Your work is done for the night. And that means that it's time for you to come enjoy the rest of the party with your boyfriend, because he's been lonely all night", he told her with his own pout.  
She laughed and leaned in to give him a kiss. "You're right. So does that mean you'll dance with me?" she asked with a hopeful smile.  
"Anything for you", he told her as he grabbed her hand to lead her out of the kitchen.

Stefan swayed Caroline around on the dance floor and she felt so content. She was wrapped in the arms of the man she loved with her head resting on his shoulder.

Stefan felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to see Damon.  
"Mind if I cut in little brother?" he asked.  
"I suppose so, just watch where your hands are, Damon." Stefan told him with a teasing tone.

Damon just laughed as he spun Caroline around until they were in the middle of the dance floor.  
"What you've done here tonight is amazing, Caroline. Elena and I can't possibly thank you enough."  
"It really was no problem at all, Damon. I would do anything for you and Elena. After everything the two of you have done for me, this was the least I could do", she told him with a smile.  
"You're family, Blondie. Elena and I would do anything for you too", he said as he spun her around again.  
Damon saw her staring off to a different part of the dance floor and followed her gaze to see Stefan dancing with Elena. Damon watched the way Caroline looked at his brother and smiled.  
"You really love him, don't you?" he asked her.  
Caroline looked at him with a shocked expression on her face.  
"What?" she asked, pretending she hadn't heard him.  
Damon just smiled at her, "Don't worry Care, your secret is safe with me", he told her.  
She gave him a small smile, "It's just…he might think it's too soon for those kind of feelings, you know?"  
Damon nodded his head. "I know you're scared Caroline. But, for what it's worth, I'm pretty certain he feels the same way about you."  
"What makes you say that?" she asked.  
Damon looked back over at Stefan and Elena and saw his brother staring at the blonde.  
"Because, he looks at you the same way I look at Elena", he told her with a smile.  
Caroline looked over and saw Stefan's eyes on her as he waved at them.  
"Thank you, Damon", she said sincerely.

Damon spun her around one more time, but this time as he did, she saw another dark haired boy sitting at the bar, staring at her with intense eyes.  
Caroline's entire body instantly tensed up and her veins felt like they'd turned to ice.  
Damon felt her stop moving and looked at her to see the terrified look on her face.  
"Caroline? What's wrong?" he asked, seriously concerned now.  
"Damon…Tyler is here."

 **And that's chapter 11! I hope everyone enjoyed. I'm working on chapter 12 now and it'll be posted tomorrow or Wednesday. Reviews and comments are always appreciated!  
I was also curious to see if anyone had any concerns or questions about the story? Don't be afraid to ask! Thanks everyone! **


	12. Chapter 12

" _Damon…Tyler is here."_

Damon eyes snapped up to the bar, but he didn't see Tyler.  
He turned back to Caroline and saw nothing but absolute fear in her eyes.

Stefan and Elena were still dancing when he looked over and saw Damon and Caroline just standing there. And then he saw the look on Caroline's face; something was wrong.

He made his way over to Caroline and when he reached for her hand, she jumped away from him like he'd burned her.  
She turned around to see who it was and instantly threw herself into Stefan's arms when she realized it was him.

"Whoa, Caroline, what's wrong?"  
She was sobbing at this point and couldn't get any words out, so Damon answered for her.  
"She saw Tyler at the bar…", he said as he gave his brother a worried look.  
"WHAT!?" Stefan shouted.

Damon saw the instant rage in Stefan's eyes as he told him.  
"Caroline saw him standing at the bar, but we don't know where he went."

Stefan cradled Caroline's face in his hands, "Are you positive that it was him?"  
She could only nod in response.  
"Why the hell would he show up here?" He shouted at no one in particular.

Elena pulled Caroline into her arms as she continued to sob.  
"Care, don't worry, everything will be okay", she tried to reassure her friend.  
"Why would he come here Elena? I thought I was finally free", she responded when she finally caught her breath.  
"I don't know, but nothing is going to happen to you, okay? He's not going to hurt you ever again", she promised her.  
"I need to get out of here, I can't breathe."  
"I'm taking her home", Stefan told Damon and Elena.  
"We'll stick around here and make sure we don't see him", Damon told him.  
Stefan nodded.  
"I'm so sorry this had to happen at your engagement party you guys", Caroline said with a sad smile.  
"Don't you dare apologize, Caroline. This party was amazing", Elena assured her.

They said their goodbyes and they left, Stefan with his arm wrapped tightly around Caroline the whole way home.

It had been two weeks since the party and Caroline was on edge 24/7. No one had seen Tyler since that night but she was constantly afraid. So much so, she'd only left the house one time.

Stefan was worried about her. She had barely spoken a word in the last week. He knew she was scared, but her personality had completely changed. She didn't want to do anything; no leaving the house, she barely ate, and she just locked herself in her room. Anytime he tried to go near her, he could see her pulling away from him. She wouldn't let him touch her. It was breaking his heart.

Stefan had just gotten this amazing girl in his life and he felt like he was losing her. He didn't know how to take away her fear; he didn't know how to help the woman he loved and that fact was killing him inside. He needed to try and get through to her in any way he could.

He decided to pack a picnic for the two of them. They could go to the lake on their property and they could be alone.

He walked into the living room and saw Damon and Elena on the couch, watching a movie.

"I'm going to take Caroline out for a little bit", he told them as he walked in.  
"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Elena asked him with a worried look.  
"I have to try something Elena. She's shutting everyone out. I know she's scared but I need her to come back to me", he responded, a quiver in his voice. The truth was, this scared him just as much.

Elena nodded, she really did understand. She was so worried about her friend, but it didn't seem like anything that anyone did was getting through to her. Everyone was at a loss for what to do. She hoped that Stefan could make any kind of progress.

"Good luck brother", Damon told him.

He walked upstairs and knocked as her entered her room.  
"Caroline?"  
He saw her in the exact same spot she'd been for the last two weeks; laying in her bed, blanket covering her entire body.  
He sat down on the bed and slowly pulled the blanket back.  
He put a hand on her shoulder and felt like he'd been stabbed in the heart when she jumped at his touch and moved further away.  
"Caroline, I want you to come somewhere with me."  
"I don't feel like leaving Stefan." Her voice sounded so defeated.  
"Please? We won't be gone for long…please Caroline", he begged.  
She turned to look at him, noticing the sadness in his eyes as she did.  
She knew this wasn't fair to him.  
She nodded her head in agreement and saw him breathe a sigh of relief.  
"I'll wait for you downstairs", he told her as he got up to walk out of the room.

When they got to their spot, Stefan laid out the large blanket he'd brought and set the picnic basket down.  
"Are you hungry?" he asked.  
"A little."  
He smiled as he pulled out a couple of sandwiches and a drink for each of them.

They ate in silence and enjoyed the view of the lake in front of them.  
Caroline felt like she had so many things she wanted to say, but didn't know how to even begin, so she blurted out the first thing she could.  
"I'm sorry", she said.  
Stefan looked at her with a confused look on his face.  
"Caroline, why are you sorry?"  
"A lot of reasons, but mostly for the way I've been acting this week. I know this isn't fair to you, Stefan. This isn't your problem, you shouldn't have to deal with my past. It's just, I thought I was free of him, I thought I was safe. I never thought that he would find me here. And as soon as I saw him that night, everything came rushing back. I can't let him get near you or Damon or Elena, because if something happens to any of you it will be my fault and I just can't-"

Stefan cut her off when he slammed his lips against hers, feeling the saltiness from her tears.  
He pushed them back so he was on top of her as he ran his tongue across her bottom lip, begging for the access she gave him.

Caroline moaned into the kiss. She had almost forgotten what kissing Stefan did to her. It made her feel light headed, she could feel the kiss all the way to her toes. She began to feel the familiar burning in the pit of her stomach; god, she'd missed this. It had only been two weeks but not kissing Stefan for that long had felt like a lifetime.

Stefan pulled away from the kiss and looked down at the beautiful woman that lay beneath him and brushed her cheek with the back of his hand.

He looked into her gorgeous blue eyes, "Don't you ever think for one second that any of this is your fault. You are the strongest person that I have ever known Caroline and no matter what happens, WE will get through this, together. Don't worry about me or Damon or Elena, we will all be okay; and so will you. I promise you, I will not let anything happen to you. You will always be safe with me. I will always protect you. I love you Caroline Forbes."

Caroline's heart was beating a million times a second. She'd been wanting to say those words to him for so long, she couldn't believe it was finally out there. At this very moment, she was on cloud nine.

She cradled his face in her hands as she smiled looking at this amazing man in front of her.  
"I love you too, Stefan. More than you know."

She was still scared, but looking into Stefan's eyes, she knew it would all be okay. She and Stefan were together and that was all that mattered.

Stefan's heart was soaring at hearing her say those words back to him. He leaned down and kissed her passionately.

He was going to do everything in his power to make sure that Caroline was always safe in his arms.

 **Those three little words are finally out in the open. Will love be enough?  
I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. I feel like it took me FOREVER to write it! The next chapter will be up by Friday night. Reviews and comments always appreciated. Thank you to everyone who continues to read this story, it truly means so much to me since this is my first story. You are all amazing! **


	13. Chapter 13

It had been a month of bliss since Caroline and Stefan declared their love for each other.  
They would fall asleep in each other's arms and wake up in the same way.  
They spent every minute of every day together. It was like they couldn't breathe if they were away from one another. And in a way, that's truly how Caroline felt. She knew she was safe with Stefan by her side, but it was more than that. When they were apart, she felt like she was missing a piece of herself. Just the sight of him was intoxicating to her. She loved the way her body felt like it was on fire when he would touch her. The way she saw his eyes light up whenever she would enter a room. She loved that he always had to be touching her, whether it was holding her hand, his arm wrapped around her waist or around her shoulders. She loved that every morning he would wake her up by whispering 'I love you' in her ear. She loved the way how passionate and caring he made sure to be when he was making love to her. She loved that she could always see the love in his eyes. She loved everything about him.

Caroline rolled over and wrapped the blanket tighter around herself, feeling cold. Her eyes fluttered open when she realized she was not wrapped in Stefan's arms anymore. She stretched as she sat up and looked around the room.

"Stefan?"  
When she didn't get an answer, she figured he must have gone downstairs for some breakfast.

She got out of bed and went into the bathroom to run a brush through her hair and brush her teeth before she got dressed.  
She checked her phone and noticed what the date was. She had forgotten about her own birthday. She shrugged her shoulders; she hadn't cared about birthdays since her mom passed away. They didn't seem worth celebrating without her there.

Caroline walked into the kitchen and saw Stefan in there by himself, moving around in front of the stove.

She walked up behind him and slid her arms around his waist as she placed a kiss on his shoulder.

"Good morning, boyfriend."

Stefan turned around his her arms so he was facing her, as his hands found their place on her hips.

"Good morning beautiful", he said back to her with a kiss to her forehead.  
"Breakfast is almost done. Why don't you take a seat and I'll bring your plate."

Caroline gave him a quick peck on the lips and walked over to her spot at the table at the same time that Damon and Elena walked into the kitchen, hand in hand as always.

"Morning lovebirds", Caroline told them with a smile.  
"Good morning", they both said in unison.

Damon walked over to see what Stefan was cooking as Elena sat down next to Caroline.

"What's everyone doing today?" Caroline asked as she laughed at Stefan smacking Damon's hand away from the bacon that was on the counter.

"Well actually Care, I was hoping you and I could go get our nails done together and then maybe grab some lunch?" Elena asked with a big smile and a super chipper voice.

Caroline just rolled her eyes and laughed at Elena. She knew was today was. Elena never forgot a birthday. Caroline was very grateful that she hadn't said anything out loud. Caroline didn't want Stefan to get mad that she hadn't told him, or even worse, make a big deal out of it being her birthday.

She turned to her friend, "That sounds great!"

"Babe, Caroline and I are going out for a few hours, alright?" Caroline heard Elena tell Damon as Stefan brought her breakfast over and gave her a kiss as he set her plate down.

Damon just nodded his head, not even paying attention now that he'd managed to get some of the bacon.

Elena just laughed. "I'm going to go finish getting ready and we can go whenever you're done Care."  
Caroline nodded at her friend, her mouth full of food.

Stefan sat next to her and took one of her hands in his, letting her use her other hand to eat.

"What are you boys going to do today?" she asked him.  
Stefan just shrugged.  
"Probably try to get some things done around the house. Definitely grocery shopping, since somebody refuses to do it!" he said a bit louder, making sure Damon could hear him.  
He just shook his head with a laugh when Damon didn't even bat an eye, clearly pretending he hadn't heard his brother.

Caroline laughed at the brothers.  
"Hey, if you're going to the store, can you please get me some—"  
"Chocolate chip cookie dough", Stefan said with a smile before she could finish.  
Caroline flashed her amazing smile at him before leaning in and giving him a kiss.  
"You know me so well" she said.  
"I sure do", he said back with another kiss.

Just then Elena came down the stairs and told her she was ready.  
The girls started walking to the car when Elena wrapped her arms around Caroline in a big hug,  
"Happy birthday, Caroline!"  
Caroline smiled at her best friend, "thank you Elena!"

Caroline and Elena picked out the color they wanted on their nails and took a seat, waiting for the ladies in the nail salon to start.

"By the way, thank you for not telling Stefan it was my birthday", Caroline said as she turned to Elena.  
"I just really don't want to make it a big deal and I'm sure he would if he knew."  
"It's no problem Caroline. I'm just glad we get some girl time together!" Elena said with a big smile.  
"Me too! Should we just grab something to eat at The Grill after this?"  
"Yeah, definitely. I just have to be back to the house by 3, Damon and I have a double date tonight with a couple of friends. And I figured you would want some alone time with Stefan", Elena told her with a shoulder nudge, making Caroline blush.  
"You are a wonderful best friend Elena Gilbert."  
Elena laughed at her, "I know!"

The girls got their nails done and had a great time at lunch talking and laughing about their many memories together and then they headed home to see their boys.

When they got back to the house, Caroline saw two extra cars in the driveway but just figured it was Elena and Damon's friends that they were going out with.  
She had to admit, she was pretty excited about spending the whole night alone with Stefan. They were always together of course, but usually Damon and Elena were with them and they did most things in a group. It would be nice to have Stefan to herself tonight.

Caroline and Elena walked into the living room and Caroline screamed and nearly jumped out of her skin when a room full of people yelled, "SURPRISE!"  
Everyone clapped and cheered, happy that they were able to surprise her.  
She couldn't believe how many of their old friends were there, she was so happy.

Caroline turned to Elena who was smiling and laughing.  
"You didn't really think I was going to let you get away with not having a birthday party, did you?"  
Caroline smiled at her friend and pulled her into a big hug.  
"Thank you, Elena. Nicely played, by the way!" she told her with a laugh.  
"Well, you should really be thanking Stefan. He's the one who pulled this whole thing off."

Caroline scanned the room and found Stefan standing in the middle of the room, his green eyes fixated on her, the biggest smile on his face.  
She walked over to him and instantly wrapped her arms around his neck and began kissing him.

Stefan pulled away after a minute, chuckling at Caroline.  
"Easy there birthday girl. I'm saving my good stuff for later tonight." He told her with a wink and smiled when he saw the blush take over her cheeks.  
"I can't believe you did all of this for me."  
"Are you kidding? If anyone deserves a kick ass birthday party, it's my girl."  
She smiled and leaned up to kiss him, but a familiar voice stopped her.  
"Geez Caroline. You've only been here for 10 minutes and the whole time you've been glued to this guy's lips."

Caroline's eyes lit up as soon as she turned around.  
"OH MY GOD, BONNIE!" she screamed so loud everyone in the room stopped to look at the friends.  
Caroline threw herself into the arms of the girl standing before her.

Bonnie, Caroline and Elena had practically been inseparable when they were kids. And when Caroline had to move away, she stayed in touch with Bonnie just as much as she did with Elena. Bonnie had begun dating Elena's younger brother Jeremy about two years ago. When Jeremy got accepted into an art school in Savannah, Georgia, she moved with him. She was happy for Bonnie but it made it even harder to play visits between the three girls. Caroline couldn't believe that they were even there right now. She had missed her friend so much.

When they pulled away, both girls had tears in their eyes.  
"How are you here right now!?" Caroline asked, shock still in her shaky voice.  
"Well, your boy toy over there called me and Jeremy a couple of days ago and arranged for us to get up here for your party. This guy is seriously good, he had everything already taken care of before he even called us. Don't let this one go, Care." She told her friend with a wink.

Caroline looked back and smiled as she saw Stefan talking to Damon and Jeremy.  
"I don't plan on it" she said with a smile as she turned back to Bonnie.

The rest of the party was amazing. Everyone was mingling and getting along great.

The girls were sitting at the kitchen table, having a couple of drinks and laughing and talking about the night the night that Bonnie's dad caught her and Jeremy kissing on their front porch for the first time.

"Guysss, it's not funny! I was mortified!" Bonnie said with a pout.  
"I'm pretty sure your dad was even more mortified, Bon." Caroline said while she and Elena were dying laughing.  
"Oh god, I really missed this. The three of us together, I wish we could do this more often." Elena said with a sad smile.  
"I do too", Caroline said. "But, I am so glad that we're all together right now!"  
"And Jeremy and I will be here the whole week. So we have plenty of time to catch up!" Bonnie told them with a big smile.  
"Oh my god, this is perfect!" Elena exclaimed. "You can both be with me to go look for my wedding dress!"  
They all laughed and held up their drinks for a cheers before they started talking about another embarrassing story from their teenage years.

Stefan stood at the entrance of the living room, smiling as he watched Caroline dancing with Elena and all of their friends. She looked so happy and at peace in the presence of all these people who loved her. He heard her laugh and his heart grew a hundred times its size. He loved seeing her so happy.

"You really love her don't you?" he heard from behind him.  
Stefan turned around and came face to face with a smiling Bonnie.  
"Yeah, I really do" he told her with a smile of his own. "She's the best thing that's ever happened to me."  
"Well, from the way she looks at you, I'd say she feels the exact same way about you."  
He smiled at the short brunette, "Thank you Bonnie. And thank you guys for coming. I know how much it must mean to Caroline."  
"You did an amazing thing for her tonight Stefan. After everything she's been through with Tyler and losing her mom, being around all these people was just what she needed. YOU are just what she needed."  
"That means a lot coming from you Bonnie, so thank you."  
"Just remember, you hurt her, and I will hunt you down." She told him with a finger pointed into his chest.  
Stefan just laughed at her, "You have my word, I will never hurt her."  
Bonnie nodded at him with a smile and walked back over to her friends.

One by one, the guests left the party until it was just the six friends. Bonnie and Jeremy decided to go to bed first and went upstairs to one of the guest rooms. Then Damon and Elena decided to turn in and it was just Stefan and Caroline in the living room. She was sitting in his lap, leaning her head against his chest and she ran his finger up and down her arm.

"Stefan, thank you so much for all of this. You don't know what this meant to me." She said as she turned to look at him and kiss him on the cheek.  
"Anything for you beautiful. BUT, our night isn't over just yet." He told her with a smile as he picked her up and began carrying her to his bedroom.  
"What are you up to Mr. Salvatore?"  
"Just be patient, I promise it'll be worth it."

They stopped at his door.  
"Alright, close your eyes."

Caroline did as she was told and heard him open the door.

"Open."

Caroline gasped as she opened her eyes.  
There were candles lit everywhere in the room and the bed and floor was covered in rose pedals. In the middle of the bed was a box wrapped with a bow.

"Oh Stefan, this is so beautiful!"  
"Nothing but the best for my girls" he said as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.  
"Why don't you go over there and open your present."  
"You didn't have to get me anything, the party was more than enough." She said turning around in his arms.  
"That was for everyone else to enjoy. This part is for me." He said with a smile and a kiss to her lips.

Caroline walked over to the bed and began to unwrap the box.

When she opened it, tears pooled in her eyes.

It was the most beautiful necklace she had ever seen.

It was in the shape of a heart with shimmering diamonds all around it and a 'C' made out of a ruby in the middle.

"This is gorgeous."  
"No, you're gorgeous, this will just be a nice accessory." He told her with a smile as he took the necklace and began to put it on for her.  
She turned to face him and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately.  
"You have made this the greatest birthday ever, Stefan. I love you so much."  
Stefan kissed her back before he said, "You deserve all of this and more. I love you, Caroline Forbes."

Caroline ended the best birthday of her life by making love to Stefan and falling asleep happily in his strong arms.

 **Hello everyone! There you have it, finally chapter 13! I hope you all liked this chapter. The next couple of chapters will have some more drama in it but I loved writing this chapter, I think it's my favorite so far! As always, reviews and comments are appreciated. Thank you all for reading!**


	14. Chapter 14

With Bonnie and Jeremy being in Mystic Falls for a few more days, the girls decided this was the perfect opportunity to go help Elena find her wedding dress.

They walked into the bridal store and were all blown away by what was in front of them.

Caroline was sure she'd never seen this many wedding dresses in one place. This store had every type of dress for your big day that you could possibly imagine; ones that were strapless, ones with straps, ones that had a 6 feet long train behind it, ones that came with a tiara veil, ones with the most gorgeous lace; it was incredible.

"Wow, I think we just walked into what Caroline's dreams probably looked like when we were 10!" Bonnie said with a laugh as they all looked around in awe.  
Caroline rolled her eyes at Bonnie but with a smile. Truth was, Bonnie was pretty much right! Caroline had been planning her wedding day since she was six years old. She could remember sitting up in her room and creating a scrapbook of everything she wanted. She definitely had to have a June wedding. She wanted an elegant, but rustic wedding. She wanted white, navy, and turquoise as the colors. She wanted Fairy lights and panels of airy white fabric hung from the rafters adding an air of romance and whimsy to the decor, while elements like tree slices, distressed wooden table numbers and mason jars filled with bright seasonal blooms. And her wedding dress would be strapless, with elegant lace throughout the entire dress, her train would be long, but not so long that it would get in the way of her special night. She hoped one day this would all happen for her, the way it was supposed to.

"I don't even know where to start!" Elena said as she shaking Caroline from her thoughts.

Caroline snapped into best friend/wedding planner mode.

"Okay, first things first, you need to decide if you want a strapless dress or not."  
"I don't think so, I think I'd like a more traditional dress."  
"Perfect, I see a bunch of those already."

Caroline and Bonnie spend the next two hours giving Elena their opinions on every single dress she tried on. They were up to number 25 next.

Elena stepped out from behind the curtain and Caroline and Bonnie gasped at the sight in front of them.

Elena stood in a beautiful, timeless, and elegant wedding gown. The sweetheart neckline and back were lined with a soft Organza accent. The skirt fanned full and the veil was beautiful. The dress complimented Elena's olive skin tone perfectly.

"That's the one" Caroline said breathlessly as tears started to fall from her eyes.  
All Bonnie could do was nod as she too began to cry.

"Guys, don't cry, you're going to get me started and we all know I won't be able to stop!" Elena said as she let out a small laugh and wiped away a single tear.

"Damon is going to die when he sees you in that!" Bonnie said as she spun her finger, telling Elena to spin around for them.

"Let's hope so" Elena said.  
"Oh, there's no doubt. Have you seen yourself in that dress? He's not going to be able to keep his hands off of you!" Caroline said as the girls laughed.

Elena told the sales lady that she would be getting that dress and went to take it off.

As Caroline walked around the store some more, taking in the beauty of the dresses, she glanced out of the window, across the street and saw a pair of eyes staring right back at her and instantly her entire body tensed up.  
A bus passed by and just like that, he was gone.  
But she already knew who it was. Tyler was back again.

Bonnie was standing next to Caroline and sensed how tense she had just gotten.

"Care, what's wrong?  
Caroline just stood completely still, her eyes fixed on something across the street.  
"Caroline. What's going on?" Bonnie said, a little louder this time.

Caroline slowly turned toward her friend, "He's back again" she simply said.  
"Who's ba-," and then it clicked for her. "Tyler? You saw Tyler!?" Bonnie responded, now with a panic in her voice.  
Caroline just nodded her head.  
"I'm calling the guys right now" Bonnie said as she pulled out her phone and walked away to go tell Elena.

Caroline walked outside of the store and looked around. She didn't see him, but she knew he was still there. She could feel it.  
She decided to walk to the car and just sit in there until Elena and Bonnie were done.  
She turned toward the parking lot and began walking when she heard his voice…

"Well, you are a hard person to get alone these days, Care."

Her stomach dropped and her veins turned to ice. Just the sound of his voice was enough to send sheer panic through her entire body.

She turned around and there he was; Tyler Lockwood, The guy who was supposed to have been the man of her dreams and had instead turned into the thing that haunted her nightmares now, standing in front of her with his arms crossed and an evil smile on his face.

She was facing him now, but still slowly backing up as much as she could.

She stayed silent for a few seconds but then finally managed to find her voice, "What do you want Tyler?"  
"Like you even have to ask Caroline, I'm here to bring you home."  
"THIS is my home now."  
He laughed like she'd just told the funniest joke ever. "With him? You think he actually loves you? Think he won't get tired of you in a few more months? Sorry to break your heart princess, but you're not that special Care. I'm the only person who has ever been able to put up with you. I'm the only man who will ever truly love you."

Hearing him say anything about Stefan suddenly made her feel a little bit braver.  
She took a step forward and pointed a finger right in his face, "You know NOTHING about him, or about me anymore. You lost the right to even speak to me the second you laid a hand on me, Tyler. So don't you dare come here and try to tell me who does or doesn't love me, because you sure as hell never did!"

She saw his eyes change as soon as she began talking, they turned dark, the way they did before he was about to lose it. She dropped her hand and started backing away again.  
But this time when she did, he began to slowly follow her, like he was stalking his prey.

"Ya know Caroline, I came here to try and make amends with you. I came to tell you that I've been talking to someone and working on all my issues and to tell you that I was finally ready to be with you again. But you thinking that you can talk to me like that is the reason this all started to begin with. You need to learn your place. You don't get to talk to me like that…EVER."

Caroline was backed into a car now and he was practically in her face by this point.

"Just leave Tyler, please. I'm finally happy, why can't you just let me be happy!?" she screamed in his face as tears began to fall.

He grabbed her by the neck and squeezed, "Don't you get it Caroline? You don't get to be happy if it's not with your husband."

She tried to scream, but it was pointless. He was squeezing so hard, she could feel all of the air leaving her body. She closed her eyes and waited for what she knew was going to come next; the pain of his fist hitting her head.

She could feel her hearing start to go out and her head get fuzzy and light and just as she was about to pass out, she felt his hand released from her neck and heard shouting.

The second he'd gotten Bonnie's phone call, he felt like his whole world was about to fall apart. He rushed out of the house so quick he didn't even know if Damon and Jeremy were following him.  
As he sped to the bridal shop, he silently thanked God that this town was so small that he was able to make it there in less than 5 minutes.

He pulled up in front of the shop but didn't see her anywhere so he began running to the back parking lot. And that's when he finally saw her. And he saw HIM. He saw Tyler with his hand wrapped around Caroline's neck.

He would never be able to describe the rage that filled his entire body as he rushed to where they were.

He pulled Tyler by the back of his shirt, spun him around so they were facing each other and landed the hardest hit on his jaw that he possibly could.

Tyler fell to the ground and caressed his throbbing and aching jaw. But Stefan wasn't done. Not even close.

Stefan stood directly over him, grabbed the front of his shirt this time and shouted, "You stay the hell away from Caroline you piece of shit" as he hit him over and over and over and over and over again. Tyler was completely unconscious and Stefan still continued to pound on him.

Finally Damon and Jeremy caught up to him and pulled him off of Tyler.

"Stefan you're going to kill him!" Damon shouted as he stood in front of his brother, his hands on Stefan's shoulders to hold him back.

"He deserves to die Damon!" Stefan shouted back.

"Stefan, hey! Look at me!" Damon said, needing his full attention.  
Stefan finally looked him in the eyes.  
"I know he deserves it, but right now, you need to go take care of your girl."

With that one sentence, Stefan's eyes softened but also widened with fear realizing that Caroline was just ten feet away and had witnessed his rampage against Tyler.

Stefan looked over by her car and saw Caroline huddled over, her head between her knees, sobbing as Elena and Bonnie tried to calm her down.

He began walking over to her and nodded a thank you to the girls when they stood up and walked away.

He kneeled down and took her hands in his, and was thankfully when she didn't jump away from him. Instead, she lifted her head to look at him and he saw the hand print marks around her neck and his heart shattered into a million pieces.

He pulled her into a tight embrace as she continued to cry.  
"Baby I'm so sorry, god I'm so sorry. I should have been here, I should have protected you. I'm so sorry." He kept repeating over and over to her as her sobs started to calm down.

"Please take me home." She said through baited breaths and a tear-stained face.  
Stefan nodded his head and offered his hand to help her up.

They walked passed their friends without anyone saying a word, which Stefan was thankful for. He knew Damon would take care of Tyler when he finally came too again.

Neither of them spoke on the ride home, but Stefan made sure her hand was in his the entire time, letting her know he was there.  
He felt riddled with guilt thinking about what just happened.  
He was supposed to always protect her, and he had failed her.  
His stomach was in knots and his heart hurt just looking at his beautiful girl, who was staring out of the window, still silently crying.

He didn't know how yet, but Stefan was going to make damn sure that no one, especially Tyler, would ever hurt her again. He would make sure of that…even if it killed him.

 **Hello my beautiful readers! I hope everyone is doing great this wonderful Tuesday. I just wanted to thank you all for being so patient with me with these updates! I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. So, Tyler is Caroline's husband! All of that craziness will be explained next time! lol I'm already working on the next chapter so I hope to have it up within the next day or so! As always, reviews, comments or questions are appreciated. I always love hearing what you guys think about the story, whether it's good or bad, it truly helps as a writer to have any kind of critique!**


	15. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER 15**

Stefan was relieved that by the time they got home, Caroline seemed to have calmed down some and was no longer crying.  
They got into the house and he walked her up the stairs and into his room to have her lie down. He pulled the blanket over her body and went to turn to go into the bathroom and get her a warm washcloth but her hand caught his and it stopped him.  
He looked down at her at her and felt his heart clench at the look on her face. She looked so sad and broken, it broke his heart.  
Stefan kissed the back of her hand and gently let go and went into the bathroom. He decided now would be a good time to clean and wash his bloodied and bruised knuckles; he didn't want Caroline to see how back they actually were.  
When he came back out, he sat next to her on the bed and softly patted the warm washcloth over her red, puffy eyes. He heard her let out a long sigh and took that as a good sign to continue.  
He stopped when he felt the washcloth become cold and went to get up to warm it when she stopped him again.  
"I'm so sorry, Stefan."  
"Caroline, you have absolutely nothing to apologize for. I'm the one who is sorry, I should have been there to protect you, this is my fault."  
"It's not your fault, please don't say that. You can't be with me all the time."  
"If that's what I have to do to protect you, then I WILL be with you every second of every day." he told her with determination in his voice. He would do anything he needed to do in order to keep her safe.  
She looked at him with soft eyes, "Stefan, this isn't your fault. It's mine."  
"How could you even say that?" he asked her with a hint of annoyance in his voice. He couldn't understand how she could even believe that.  
"Because, I wasn't honest with you about everything. And because I knew that he would never stop looking until he found me, but I left anyways and put myself and the rest of you in danger by doing that."  
Stefan looked at her confused now. "What weren't you honest with me about?"  
Caroline took a huge breath in, she didn't know how he was going to react to this new information.  
"I didn't just leave him…I left a marriage."  
She saw the shocked expression on his face and felt her heart break a little more when he took a step away from her.  
"You…you married him?" he asked with a devastated voice.  
All Caroline could do was nod her head, she'd begun to cry again and was afraid she wouldn't be able to speak right now even if she tried.

Stefan ran his hands through his hair, and finally felt the pain of the damage to his knuckles. He was feeling every emotion possible running through him, except one: anger. He could never be angry with her, not ever.  
"Why?" was the only thing he could get out.

She let out a bitter laugh and shook her head, "I thought it would make things better. Not long after my mom died, I decided to go see a therapist, try to work through some of the grief I was feeling. And to my surprise, Tyler agreed to see someone too when I asked. I'd expected there to be yelling or a few punches thrown my way for even asking him such a thing, but when I did, he simply said "okay" and that was that. We went three times a week. Well, I went three times a week. Truth is, I don't know if he ever went. We never did any sessions together, he said he didn't think that it was a good idea and I didn't bother to argue with him about it. After a month or two, I finally started feeling a little bit better, I could feel the weight of the grief slowly starting to lift and I could breathe a little more" she said with a sad smile and Stefan knew she was thinking about her mom.  
"One night, he came home and it was like I'd gone back in time, to the very beginning. He had flowers and a bottle of wine, and he walked in with the biggest smile on his face and kissed me. I hadn't seen him in that good of a mood in at least a year. We actually had a nice dinner, like a normal couple. We talked in a way that I didn't even think was possible for us anymore. And after we were done, he simply got up and walked over to me, took my hand, got down on one knee, told me he loved me more than anything and asked me to marry him." She was crying now and Stefan made his way back to the bed to sit next to her and took her hands into his and rubbed his thumbs on the back of her hands, waiting for her to finish her story.

"I was dumb enough to believe that he actually did love me, and that maybe, just maybe, he'd had some miracle breakthrough at therapy and that everything was going to be better after that. So, two weeks later, we went down to the courthouse, signed a piece of paper and that was that. No family, no friends, no dress, no cake, not even any rings, nothing." She was crying even harder now and was struggling to get her words out.  
Stefan brushed a piece of hair from her eyes and cupped her cheek, letting her know that he was there, that it was okay. She gave him a sad smile before she took another breath to continue.

"It didn't take long for me to realize that the only reason he wanted to get married was for financial gain."

Stefan tilted his head and gave her another confused look but she just smiled slightly and continued.

"My mom's family was pretty wealthy and when she passed away, I became the only Forbes left, so I inherited everything. Tyler knew that and as soon as I signed that marriage certificate, my money became his money. It wasn't even three weeks before my inheritance check hit our bank account and everything went back to the exact same as before. And now we were married, so it was going to be even harder for me to leave, so I didn't. Like a stupid little girl, I stayed and just let the abuse continue."

She began sobbing and threw her face into her hands. Stefan pulled her into a tight embrace and rocked her back and forth to calm her down as he felt her tears seeping into his shirt.

"I'm so sorry I didn't tell you sooner, Stefan. I was so ashamed and I wanted to just forget about everything so I pretended it didn't even happen. I'm just so sorry. I had divorce papers delivered to him a couple of months ago, but he refuses to sign them."

Stefan pulled back and placed both hands on the sides of her face, making sure she was looking him in the eye.

"You have nothing to be sorry for and nothing to be ashamed about, you did absolutely nothing wrong. I'm not mad Caroline, not even a little bit. And I don't care about the past. All I care about is that you're here, you're safe, and you're with me. Everything else we will figure out, together."

Caroline stared into his eyes and knew he was telling the truth. God this man was amazing. Even with all of the craziness that just happened with them, she still felt so unbelievably lucky to have found someone like Stefan.

She leaned in and pressed a long, loving kiss to his lips.

They broke apart and Stefan laid back and pulled Caroline onto his chest and wrapped him arms around her.

She let out a content sigh at being in his arms.

"I love you, Stefan."  
"I love you too, beautiful."

After laying there for a while, Stefan could hear her even breathing and knew she'd finally fallen asleep, and before long, he did the same.

Stefan woke up three hours later and smiled down at the beautiful girl still sleeping peacefully on his chest. He looked at the clock and noticed it was getting close to dinner time and decided it would be a good idea to get Caroline some food for when she woke up.

He carefully and quietly made his way out of the bedroom, making sure to not wake her up, and was met by all of their friends when he walked into the living room.  
He suddenly felt a little guilty, in all of the madness of the day and then the intense conversation he'd had with Caroline when they got back home, he'd didn't even think to talk to their friends and let them know she was okay.

"Hey brother, it's about time you got up." Damon said when they all saw him.  
"Guys I'm really sorry! Things got even crazier when Caroline and I got home and we were both just so exhausted from the day, we passed out." He told them, still feeling terrible. He knew they were all so worried about her.  
"Is she okay, Stefan?" Elena asked, her and Bonnie both with worried looks on their faces.  
"Physically, yes, she's fine. But emotionally…" he trailed off, not sure how to finish.  
"She feels guilty." Elena responded. It wasn't a question, she knew her friend, she knew Caroline would feel guilty about all of this even when none of it was her fault.  
Stefan nodded his head.

He wasn't sure if he should bring it up, or if Caroline had even told anyone else, but he wanted to know if any of them knew.

"Did uh…did she tell any of you about the uh…status of her relationship with him?" he asked them all.

They all looked around at each other and then back at Stefan with confused looks on their faces.

"What do you mean the status?" Bonnie asked.

If none of them knew, he pretty much had to tell them now after asking that.

"Well, it's a long story of when and why that I'll let Caroline explain, if she wants to, to you guys, but…" he didn't even want to finish the sentence. It made him sick to his stomach that the piece of shit had basically tricked Caroline into a marriage that neither of them truly wanted.

"What is it Stefan?" Elena asked.

He ran his hand over his face, wincing at the pain of his busted up knuckles again.

"They're married."

They were all stunned in silence. None of them had known.

"Married!?" Bonnie practically shouted.

Stefan just nodded his head. "Yes, married." He hated even saying it.

After she'd picked her jaw off of the floor, Elena asked, "How did that even happen?"  
"Like I said, it's a long story and if Caroline wants to talk about it, I'm sure she'll tell you guys. But truthfully, it's not something that I really want to keep talking about." He told them as he flopped down on the couch.

They all nodded their heads and gave him a sad look.

He rolled his eyes. "Guys, I'm fine, seriously. Right now we need to be focused on Caroline and figuring out a way to get her out of this bullshit mess."

"I'm assuming she's already filed for the divorce?" Jeremy said, asking the obvious question.  
"Yeah, but he won't sign them." He replied, rubbing his temples because of the headache he was getting.

They all started talking among themselves, trying to find a solution but it was all making Stefan's head spin. He just wanted to take care of his girl and make sure she was safe.

"Alright, well you all continue to talk this out." He said as he got up.  
"Where are you going? Damon asked.  
"We don't have any food in the house right now, and everyone is going to need dinner pretty soon, so I'm going to run out and just grab us some pizza or something."  
"Do you want company?" Damon asked.  
Stefan shook his head. "No, it's okay. I need to clear my head anyways, thanks though."  
He grabbed his keys and made his way outside, still hearing everyone talking about just how insane today had really been.

Ten minutes later, Stefan made it to the pizzeria. He got out of his car and began making his way across the street, and then everything was dark.

He didn't even see it coming. It was literally out of nowhere.

He could feel pain in every single part of his body. He couldn't open his eyes, he couldn't speak, all he could feel was pain.

He could hear footsteps getting closer.  
And then he could feel hot breath on his face.

"You shouldn't get involved with things that don't concern you, Stefan. You might end up getting hurt."

The sound of footsteps were now further away. He heard a car door shut and then heard the car take off in a hurry.

He lay in the middle of the road, bloodied and in excruciating pain and only had one thing on his mind: Caroline.

He had to get back to her. He needed to protect her. He couldn't let Tyler hurt her again.

And yet, he couldn't move. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't do anything. And then the darkness took over.

 **Hello beautiful people! I hope everyone is doing great this Wednesday afternoon. I'm pretty happy with this chapter for the most part, I hope you all are too! I'm finally back on a bit of a roll in writing again, so I'm already working on Chapter 16 which I'm hoping to have posted by tomorrow night! Hope you guys liked the chapter and the drama. Reviews and comments always appreciated and thank you again to whoever is reading this story. It means so much!**


	16. Chapter 16

**CHAPTER 16**

Caroline awoke feeling much better than she did before she fell asleep. She finally felt relaxed. She knew she was going to be in for a battle to get Tyler to agree to the divorce, but with Stefan and their friends by her side, she'd make it through.

She sat up and looked around the room, not seeing Stefan anywhere, and figured he'd gone downstairs.

She rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she made her way into the living room and saw her friends, but no Stefan.

"Hey Care, how are you feeling?" Elena asked as she and Bonnie got up to give the blonde a hug.  
"Much better actually, thanks guys. I'm sorry you had to see all of that earlier." She told them looking a little embarrassed.  
"Are you kidding? Seeing Stefan defend you like that was a total turn on!" Bonnie said with a wink, trying to make light of the bad situation.  
Caroline and Elena laughed and Caroline hugged her again and whispered a 'thank you' into her ear.

"Speaking of, where is Stefan?" Caroline asked.  
"He figured his princess would be starving after her long nap so he went out to get some pizza." Damon told her with a smirk.  
Caroline rolled her eyes at him but couldn't help but smile when Damon came over and pulled her into a hug.  
"I'm glad you're okay Blondie."  
She gave him a sincere smile, "thank you, Damon."

"So, Stefan may have told us about the little predicament that you're in." Elena said, trying to be sensitive to the situation.  
Caroline let out a long sigh.  
"Yeah, that's one way of putting it." She said as she sat down.  
"How did that whole thing happen anyways?" Bonnie asked, sitting next to her.

Caroline spent the next 30 minutes explaining to everyone the same things she'd told Stefan. By the end, everyone was shocked and angry. They all hated Tyler with a burning passion for yet another reason.

"Don't worry Care, we'll figure something out. We always do." Elena told her friend as she pulled her in for a hug.  
"Thank you guys, I don't know what I would do without any of you. But honestly, for tonight, I just want to eat some pizza, hang out with the people that I love and not even think about this mess again until at least tomorrow." She said with a small laugh.

"Seriously though, where the hell is my brother with the damn food?" Damon said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

As if on cue, the doorbell rang, putting a confused look on everyone's face. They definitely weren't expecting anyone.

Caroline felt a knot in her stomach. She suddenly had a very bad feeling.

Elena was the first one to get up. "I got it."

Everyone could faintly hear the sound of a man asking if a Damon Salvatore lived at the residence. And then they heard Elena's panicked voice call out, "DAMON!"

But instead of just Damon, they all ran to front door and were met with two police officers with very somber looks on their faces.

Damon stepped in front of everyone, "I'm Damon Salvatore, what is this about officers?"  
"I'm very sorry Mr. Salvatore, but I'm afraid we have some bad news regarding your brother, Stefan."

As soon as Caroline heard those words, she felt as though her entire world had just collapsed around her. She dropped to her knees and didn't even notice Bonnie beside her, trying to calm her down.

Caroline could see the officer's mouths moving, but she couldn't make out exactly what they were saying. It was as if all of her senses had begun to fail her. She could just make out bits and pieces of what was being said.

"Accident…hospital…surgery….critical…may not make it."

She knew the police were wrong. This was no accident. They all knew exactly what happened.

She felt like she'd been on the floor forever when she felt Jeremy gently lift her up by her shoulders and Elena was standing in front of her crying.

"Care, we need to get to the hospital, now!"

But she couldn't respond. She couldn't even move. Her feet had suddenly become cemented into the ground. She's in complete shock.

She doesn't remember how she got there, but the next thing she knows, they're walking into the front doors of the hospital and she can hear Damon demanding the nurse at the front desk to tell him where his brother is.

The nurse tells him that Stefan is still in surgery and that she would let them know when she had any more information.

They all take seats in the waiting room and for the next two hours the only sound that's heard are the occasional cries from Elena and Bonnie and the footsteps of Damon as he paced back and forth.

Caroline sat, staring straight at the wall, not moving, not making a sound.

After what felt like an eternity, a doctor walked out and asked for the family of Stefan Salvatore.  
Everyone jumped up to start asking the doctor questions except for her. She stayed seated and just tried to listen to what the doctor was telling everyone.

"Mr. Salvatore sustained some extremely serious injuries. He has internal bleeding, a fractured vertebra in his back, a few broken ribs, and a serious head injury. The surgery was successful and he should be stable for now, but we've placed him in a medically induced coma to allow the swelling in his brain to go down and time for it to heal. I'll keep you all updated on anything else that occurs or comes up."

"Can we see him now?" Elena asked through sobs.  
"Yes, of course, but only two in the room at a time for now. He's in room 10."

Everyone started walking to Stefan's hospital room and stood outside of the door.

"Who's going to go first?" Bonnie asked.

Everyone looked at Caroline and she just shook her head no. She couldn't, not right now.

"Damon and I will go" Elena said as she grabbed Damon's hand and entered the room.

After being in the room for 20 minutes, Damon and Elena exited the room, still hand in hand. Elena's face was even more red and puffy and tear-stained than before and Damon's face was pale white.

She could tell they were trying to pretend it wasn't as bad as she knew it really was.

"Caroline, you can go in now." Damon told her.

But still, she didn't move. After seeing the looks on their faces, she definitely couldn't right now.

Damon gave her nod, like he understood what she was feeling, and placed a gently hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

"Bon, why don't you and Jer go in now and give her a little more time?" Damon told them.

Bonnie just nodded as Jeremy took her hand and they went in.

They came out a short time later, both wiping tears away as they did.

Caroline saw them come out and instantly felt panic. It was her turn.

It's not that she didn't want to, she knew she needed to see him, no matter what condition he was in, but she was terrified.

Damon walked over to her, kneeled in front her of and took one of her hands.

"I know you're scared Caroline, but you need to see him. He needs to hear your voice. He needs to know you're there."

She slowly stood up and made her way to the door but froze just as she put a hand on the knob.

Damon stood behind her. "I can go in with you, if you want." He offered.  
She shook her head, "It's okay. I need to do this by myself." She told him as she closed her eyes and finally turned the door handle and walked into the room.

She closed the door behind her, but still hadn't turned around yet. She had to prepare herself for what she knew she was going to see.

She counted to three and slowly turned around.  
She let out a cry as soon as she opened her eyes.

There he was, the love of her life, laying in a hospital bed, a machine breathing for him, cords and wires everywhere. He had a large wrap on his head as well as covering basically his entire torso and stitches over one of his eyes, many covering his ribcage and across his stomach. He looked so fragile and broken and she hated that. _Her_ Stefan was strong. _Her_ Stefan was brave. _Her_ Stefan would survive this. He had to, she couldn't live without him.

She walked over and sat down in the chair at his bedside and immediately took his hand in her.

She rubbed her other hand up and down his arm, hoping that he could feel her touch and knew that it was her.

"Hi baby." She whispered as the tears she'd been holding back finally began to fall.  
"I just wanted to let you know that I was here and that I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to be right here every single day. But I need you to get better. I need you to open those gorgeous green eyes that I find myself lost in on a daily basis. I need you to feel your lips on mine and taking my breath away the way that only you do. I need to hear your amazing laugh and see your amazing smile. I need to hear you teasing me about my obsessiveness about absolutely everything." She let out a small laugh at her last sentence.  
"I need you to come back to me Stefan, because I can't live without you. There is no me, without you. Just come back to me, please. I promise that I'll wait for you."  
She leaned over and gently brushed her lips against his as he tears began falling quicker.

Her breath caught in her throat when she swore she felt him squeeze her hand…right before the machines went off and she saw a flat line on his monitor.

"HELP!"

 **Hello again everyone! I'm hoping I can make up for my lack of updates the last 2 weeks with these 2 chapters in one day! Lol  
I hope everyone enjoyed this one, it's a little shorter than the last couple of chapters but I think it was one of the hardest to write for me, personally, so I hope you guys liked it!  
Already working on chapter 17, so let me know what you all thought of chapters 15 & 16\. I hope everyone has a wonderful night and thank you again for reading and following along! **


	17. Chapter 17

**Hello beautiful people! Firstly, I would like to sincerely apologize for how ridiculously long this update has taken. I recently went through a really bad breakup and I couldn't get my head straight for a while and it made it really hard to get any writing done. Now, I'm sure you all don't care about my love life, so let's get into this chapter and see where our beautiful Steroline is at!**

"HELP!"  
"Oh god, somebody please help him!"

Suddenly the room was filled with noise. Machines were blaring and six different doctors and nurses came bursting in the room.

"Ma'am, we need you to clear the room, now!"  
"No! I won't leave him!" Caroline shouted back through her tears.

She felt a pair of arms wrap around her and begin to pull her out of the room.  
Caroline was kicking and screaming while be dragged out of the room and the last thing she saw before the door closed was a doctor shocking Stefan's heart.

She was inconsolable. She couldn't breathe and she couldn't see anything through her tears.

"Shhh, Caroline, it's going to be okay." She heard Damon whispering over and over to her while he rubbed her back and tried to calm her down.

Caroline wanted to believe him, she wanted to believe that everything was going to be okay. She knew Damon wanted to believe it too, that was his little brother in there. But the only thing that Caroline could think was that Stefan was going to die, and this was all her fault.

Eventually the doctors were able to get Stefan's heart to restart but they had to rush him back into surgery right away.  
That was three hours ago and they still hadn't gotten an update.

Caroline was curled up on one of the couched in the waiting room, her head resting in Elena's lap as Elena gently ran her hands through Caroline's hair. She knew Caroline's mom used to do this for her when she was sad or scared.

Elena could tell she was exhausted.  
"Care, maybe you should head home and get some rest."  
Caroline sat up and shook her head. "I won't leave until I know he's okay Elena, I can't."  
Elena nodded her head and gave her friend a sad smile. Her heart was breaking for Caroline and Damon. She wished there was something, anything, she could do to take away any of their pain.

Another hour went by before the doctor finally came out to talk to them.

"Family of Stefan Salvatore."

They all stood up and made their way over to the doctor.

"Well, as you all know, Stefan's heart did stop, and it did take a while to get it re-started, but we were able to. He had a brain bleed, but we were able to correct that problem. We're very optimistic that he'll be just fine. However, there is always the small chance that he might have some cognitive disabilities after an injury as serious as this. We're going to monitor him very closely over the next few days to make sure nothing happens again."

"When will he wake up?" Damon asked what everyone was thinking.

"There is no exact time table on when that will happen. When he's ready to come back, he'll wake up. You can go see him as soon as he's out of recovery. Let me know if you all have any more questions."

They all let out a shaky breath. It was going to be a long road back, but Stefan was going to be okay.

"Okay, well, I think after today we could all use some rest." Elena said. "So, why don't we all head back to the house, get some food in us, maybe grab a shower and get some rest."  
"I still don't want to leave." Caroline said. She was terrified to leave him.  
"I know Care, but you need to sleep, just for a little while, please." Bonnie said.  
Caroline reluctantly nodded her head and agreed. She knew they were right, she really did need to sleep.

Back at the house, Caroline stood in the shower and let the hot water run over her as silent tears fell. She was relieved that Stefan was going to be okay, but she was also still scared out of her mind. Scared because she knew this wasn't going to be the last thing that Tyler tried. He was ruthless and evil. He wouldn't stop until he got what he wanted from her. And thinking about him hurting anyone else that she loved made her stomach turn.

She got out of the shower and put on one of Stefan's shirts before she laid down in their bed. It smelled just like him and that gave her some comfort, feeling like she was wrapped up in him. Before she knew it, she was drifting off to sleep and dreaming of being back in his arms.

When Caroline awoke, she felt better, she really needed that nap. That was, until she realized that it was 7am and that she had actually slept all night. She jumped out of bed and in record time had brushed her hair and teeth, gotten dressed and rushed downstairs to see that all of her friends were already awake.

"Morning Blondie." Damon greeted her with a plate full of food.  
"Why didn't you guys wake me up last night?" she asked as she sat down next to Bonnie.  
"We all passed out Care. All of us needed a good night's rest." Bonnie told her.  
She nodded her head at them. She must of needed it for her to sleep that long.  
"Let's get some good food in us and then we'll head to the hospital, okay?" Elena said.

Everyone ate quickly, finished getting ready and then were out the door and back at the hospital before 8:30am.

They all took their turns spending some time with Stefan before Elena, Bonnie and Jeremy decided to let Damon and Caroline stay in the room with Stefan.

The two of them had been in the room for over an hour now, Damon reading a magazine while Caroline sat next to Stefan, holding his hand and rubbing her thumb over the back of it.

"Well I could definitely use some coffee. You want anything?" Damon asked as he got up and made his way to the door.  
"No, I'm okay, thank you." She responded back, her eyes never leaving Stefan's face.  
Damon nodded and made his way out of the room.

Caroline stood up and pressed a kiss to Stefan's forehead.  
She sat back down, her hand never leaving his, and leaned her head back in her chair. Even after all the sleep she'd gotten, it had been full of dreams and she was still restless all night. She still felt exhausted.  
She finally felt herself start nodding off.

"You're so beautiful."

She could feel herself blushing in her sleep. He always made her blush.

She slowly opened her eyes and was met with the piercing green eyes that made her heart skip a beat.  
She sat up with lightning speed and instantly had her hand on his cheek.

"Oh my god, Stefan, you're awake!"  
She kissed his forehead all the way to his lips as the tears flowed down her face. She'd never been so happy.

"Oh thank god!" she placed both hands on the sides of his face. "You had me so worried. I was so scared I had lost you! Don't ever leave me like that again, please." She begged as the tears still fell.  
He cupped one cheek with his hand.  
"Hey, look at me."  
She slowly lifted her gaze to meet his.  
"I promise you, I will always find my way back to you Caroline." He whispered to her before he pulled her to him to kiss her.

Caroline pulled out of the kiss, breathless.

"I need to get your doctor!"

He let out a small laugh as she ran from the room.

She opened the door and ran into the waiting room where all their friends were sitting.

"HE'S AKWAKE!"

 **And there is the new chapter! I know it's shorter than some of the others. The next one will be longer, I promise. I also promise that the next update will NOT take as long as this one did! To all of my readers, thank you all for sticking with me and with this story, it means so much!  
As always, reviews and comments are appreciated. Thank you guys! **


	18. Chapter 18

Caroline sat with Stefan in his hospital bed, surrounded by their friends, and just smiled. The man she loved was awake, he was going to be okay, and everyone that they loved was in the room with them. She felt incredibly lucky in that moment.

She was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of Stefan's laugh; god that was an amazing sound. She had only been without it for a few days and she never wanted to be without that again.

Today was the day that Stefan was going home. He had spent the last two weeks in this hospital bed, resting and getting a million tests done to make sure he was healing correctly. Everything looked great, and that meant he finally got to finish getting better at home.

"Hellooo, earth to Caroline!"  
Caroline snapped back into the conversation after Bonnie's hand waved in her face.  
"Sorry, guess I was a little out of it. What did you say?"  
"I asked if you wanted to head to the house to get everything set up for Stefan before he gets home?" Bonnie asked.  
"You guys really don't have to do that, I'm sure everything at the house is fine the way it is." Stefan told them all.  
"Well, you're going to need the bed in a certain way, you're still healing Stefan. We need to make sure everything is perfect so you can get better." Caroline told him with a kiss on his cheek.  
"The girls and I will make sure everything is ready. For now, you can just hang out with your brother and mine until the doctor discharges you." Elena told them.

The girls said bye to the boys and headed out. First stop was the grocery store. Since Stefan had been in the hospital, nobody had the time or energy to do any grocery shopping and since Stefan would be spending a lot of time at home for the next few weeks, they definitely needed to stock the house.

"What's Stefan's favorite snack food?" Bonnie asked.  
"Salt and Vinegar chips." Both Caroline and Elena answered at the same time and laughed.  
"Well," Elena started, "I think we got enough food to feed an entire village for a whole year, so we should be good."  
"We needed all of this with all three of the boys in the house." Bonnie said with a laugh.  
"Yeah no kidding!" Caroline said. "And it'll probably be gone in a week!"

$500 worth of groceries and 3 carts later, the girls headed to put everything in the car.

As they were walking out, Caroline knew this would probably be her only chance to get what she needed.  
"Dang it, you guys go ahead to the car, I forgot something, I have to run back in the store real quick!" she told Bonnie and Elena.  
They nodded an okay and Caroline turned around to run back in.

Caroline walked back into the store and headed for the isle she needed.

As she stood in front of all of the pregnancy tests, she couldn't believe how many different options there were. She'd never done this before and had no idea what she should get.

This definitely hadn't been the plan. She was scared to death what Stefan was going to say or do if it turned out she really was pregnant. They hadn't been together for very long and this wasn't something they had talked about yet. But she was two weeks late, and she was NEVER late. She needed to know as soon as possible.

She grabbed three of the most expensive tests and turned to make her way to check out.  
She made her way around the corner of the isle and walked directly into the last person she ever wanted to see again.

She tried to hide the tests behind her back, hoping he hadn't seen anything.

"Fancy running into you here Caroline."  
"What the hell are you doing here, Tyler?"  
"I thought we covered that the last time we saw each other. I'm here for you, obviously. Oh, I forgot to ask, how's Stefan doing?" He asked with an evil grin.  
Caroline felt a wave of rage run through her body. She got right up into his face.  
"You're a coward Tyler. I don't love you, who knows if I ever really did. And just because I'm finally happy, you think you have the right to just come to town and turn my world completely upside down and try to kill the man that I love? We will NEVER be together again, I will NEVER love you, and I NEVER want to see your face ever again." She pushed past him but was stopped when he violently grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him.  
"If you think for even one second that I'm going to let you be happy with another man, you clearly don't know me very well Caroline. I'm warning you; you either leave Stefan and come back to me, or else I'm going to make him and your friends suffer in ways you cannot image. And next time, your little boyfriend won't be so lucky to make it out of the hospital." He told her through gritted teeth.

He straightened his jacket and looked at her with a smile.  
"I'll see you soon Caroline." And with that he was gone.

Caroline stood in the store, frozen, paralyzed with fear. She knew Tyler was evil and she knew he hit Stefan with that car to make a point to her. And she was terrified of what he could do next time if she didn't listen to him.

She slowly walked toward check out, bought the pregnancy tests, and made her way back to the car.  
Elena and Bonnie could both tell something was off with her, but she just played it off like she was worried about making sure Stefan had everything he would need when he got home.  
She knew she should have told them what happened. She knew they would want to help her and that they could all probably come up with a plan to stop Tyler's threats.  
But she also knew that telling them could put them in even more danger, and that wasn't something she was willing to risk. So, she stayed silent.

The girls got home and unpacked everything and Caroline went upstairs to set up the bedroom for Stefan.  
An hour later and the boys were finally home.

Damon and Jeremy helped Stefan up the stairs and into bed.  
They went back downstairs with Elena and Bonnie and then Caroline and Stefan were alone.

Caroline was moving around the room, nit-picking at everything she touched, trying to make everything perfect.

Stefan watched her, a concerned look growing on his face. She only did this when something was bothering her.

"Caroline?"  
"Hmm?"  
"What's wrong?"  
She turned around to face him and gave him a questioning look.  
"What do you mean?" She asked.  
"Well, you only obsess over things when something is wrong. So what's going on?"  
Of course Stefan would be able to tell something was wrong. He could read her like a book. But she couldn't tell him, so for the first time in their relationship, she lied to him.  
"Oh, it's nothing. I guess I just want to make sure everything if perfect for you." She told him with a forced smile.  
He knew she was lying, something was definitely bothering her, but he decided to not push her on the issue right now.

Caroline sat next to him on the bed and took his hands into hers.  
"I am so sorry Stefan."  
Now it was his turn to give her a questioning look.  
"What could you possibly have to be sorry about?"  
"This is all my fault, Tyler did this to you because of me." She lowered her head as she began to cry again.  
Stefan sat up, not caring the pain that was shooting through his ribs at the motion, and placed his hands on her cheeks, but she wouldn't make eye contact with him.  
"Caroline, hey, baby, look at me."  
She finally lifted her head and looked into his eyes.  
"I'm okay. I'm here and you're here, and that's all that matters. We're going to be just fine." He told her as he placed a kiss to her forehead.  
She mumbled an 'okay' and gave him a small smile. Stefan took the opportunity to kiss her properly, running his hands through her hair.  
Screw the painkillers, he didn't need those, Caroline was his drug.

They pulled away when they needed to breathe and smiled at each other.

"Is there anything I can get you?" She asked him as she ran a hand through his hair.  
"Anything?" he asked.  
"Anything you need. Consider me your personal nurse for the next few weeks." She told him with a laugh.  
He gave her a flirtatious smile. "Well, in that case…." He said as licked his lips and moved over on the bed, giving her space to climb in.  
Caroline's eyes widened. "Oh no, absolutely not Mr. Salvatore. You just got out of the hospital!"  
"But baby, this would totally make me feel better!" he told her with a sad pout.  
She got up, "No way mister. You need to do some healing before that is happening."  
"Ughhh, fine! But you better remember this moment the next time you want sex and I'm not in the mood." He told her.  
Caroline just rolled her eyes and laughed. "Yeah right, as if you ever NOT in the mood."  
"Fair enough." He responded back with a shrug of the shoulders.  
"Now, I need to take a shower. So take your pain pills and please get some rest." She told him as she gave him a kiss.  
Stefan nodded his head and watched her walking into the bathroom.  
"Hey Caroline?"  
"Yeah babe?"  
"I love you."  
Caroline smiled at him, "I love you too Stefan."

She grabbed her bag and walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

She took the pregnancy test of out the bag and took a deep breath.

"Now or never." She told herself.

 **Hey everyone! I hope you guys enjoyed the new chapters tonight! After the last one I was still in the writing mood and felt like you guys deserved two chapters in one night! So, more threats from Tyler and a possible Steroline baby, how are you guys feeling about all of this!?  
As always, thank you soooo much for reading and reviews and comments are always appreciated. Talk to you guys soon! **


	19. Chapter 19

It had been two weeks.

Two very long weeks since Caroline had taken the pregnancy test.

Two weeks and she still didn't know how to feel about it. And she definitely didn't know how Stefan would feel about it…if she ever got up the courage to actually tell him.

She was pregnant.

Caroline Forbes was pregnant with Stefan Salvatore's baby.

She wanted so badly to be excited about this. But pretty much since the day she'd found out, there hadn't been time to even sit and really process it.

Damon and Elena's wedding day was just a week away. They had been planning and getting everything ready non-stop for the past two weeks.

Stefan was healing great, he was now able to walk without any pain, his head didn't hurt anymore and he was able to breathe and laugh without his ribs causing him a piercing pain. Everything was actually going really well.

Except for the fact that she had yet to tell anyone, including him, about the baby.

And she was still terrified of what Tyler was planning. She knew he was going to try something. He always did.

And now she wasn't just responsible for herself. She had another little being inside of her that she needed to protect.

She needed a plan, which meant she could only ask one person.

She made her way downstairs and saw him sitting in his chair, reading the paper. Everyone else had gone out to get last minute things for the wedding. This would be her only chance to talk to him alone.

"Damon?"  
He looked up from his paper, "What's up Blondie?"  
She didn't even know where to start, so she didn't say anything.  
Damon looked back up at her and saw the look on her face. Something was definitely going on.  
"Caroline, what's wrong?"  
"I uh, I really need your help."

Caroline spent the next hour telling Damon everything. About seeing Tyler in the store, and him threatening her, again. About not telling Stefan. About the baby and also not telling Stefan about that. It felt good to get it all off of her chest, but it still didn't solve anything.

"So, let me get this straight…you're pregnant?"  
She nodded.  
"And Stefan has no idea?"  
She nodded.  
"And you think Tyler is planning something again?"  
She nodded.  
"And Stefan has no idea about that either?"  
She nodded again.  
"Okay." He took a deep breath. "Well, first things first, I'm going to give you a big ass hug because you just told me I'm going to be an uncle and you have no idea how happy that makes me!"  
Caroline laughed and leaned in to hug Damon.  
She knew she made the right choice in telling him.  
"Now, on to the next thing. How in the hell could you not tell Stefan about any of this!?" He asked with his voice raised.  
Okay, maybe she didn't make the right choice?  
She let out a sigh and shook her head.  
"I don't know Damon. This all happened in one day and I was a bit overwhelmed and terrified honestly. Stefan and I haven't been together as long as you and Elena, we've never talked about kids or what our future might look like. Hell, I don't even know if he wants kids!" she threw her hands up, exasperated.  
"What if he freaks out and decides that this isn't something that he wants? And then on top of the whole, hey I'm carrying your kid thing, he has to deal with possibly being screwed with again by my crazy ass ex-husband/husband, who ran him over with a car!? What kind of person would want to stay and deal with this mess that is my life, and all of this craziness, nobody in their right mind would ever choose this Damon!"  
She put her head in her hands and let out a yell. She didn't know how she was going to deal with all of this.  
She felt a hand on her shoulder as Damon had sat back down next to her.  
"Caroline, first off, you have to relax, this stress isn't good for the baby. And second, if you think for one second that Stefan is going to leave you, then it's you who isn't in her right mind. My brother loves you with everything in him, he would never leave you. No matter what the circumstances are, Stefan would never, ever, let you go through this alone. And he's not the only one. We're all here for you, but you have to let us be here for you. And that starts with telling Stefan the truth about all of this. I promise you that if he says the wrong thing, I'll kick his ass for you." He told her with a smirk and a wink.  
Caroline laughed. Sometimes Damon really surprised her. He tried to act like a hard ass, but underneath all of that, he really did have a big heart, and would do anything for the people he cared about, and she felt really lucky to be included on that list.

Damon sat back and pulled Caroline into him and wrapped his arms around her.

"Don't worry Care, we'll figure this all out. Everything will be just fine."  
"Thank you Damon, for everything." She said with a yawn, and before she knew it, she was fading into sleep.

Caroline was woken up by the sound of everyone getting back home from their day. She sat up and stretched her arms before getting up and walking into the kitchen. They were all putting groceries away and Elena was about to start dinner.

She felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist and she instantly leaned back into him and let out a content sigh.  
"I missed you all day." He whispered into her ear.  
"I missed you too." She told him before turning around and wrapping her arms around his neck to hug him.

She needed to tell him and she needed to tell him now.

She pulled back to look at him, "Stefan, we need to talk."  
He looked at her with concern all over his face but nodded his head and grabbed her hand to take them upstairs.

They reached their bedroom and Stefan closed the door and began walking over to her.

"Caroline, what's going on? You're starting to worry me."  
"You might want to sit down for this." She told him.  
"With that tone in your voice, I think I rather stand for whatever this is."  
She could see the terrified look on his face and she imagined it mirrored the same look that was on hers.

She needed to just say it. Just get it out before she lost her nerve like she'd done so many times over the last two weeks.

"I'm pregnant."

Stefan swore that time stood still after she spoke those words.  
It was like everything was now in slow motion.  
He stumbled backwards and thanked god when his legs hit the bed and he sat down.

"I'm going to be a father?" he asked, although it was more to himself.

"I know this is a shock, trust me, it was a shock to me too. And I know this isn't something that we've ever talked about. I don't even know if you want kids, so if you want to run for the hills, I would totally understand. I don't want to tie you down or make you feel like you're obligated to stay and help me with this if you don't want to. I would never ask you to do that Stefan."

He looked up at her with a confused look on his face. What was she talking about?

He instantly shot back up and took her face between his hands.

"You listen to me Caroline Forbes, and you listen good."  
She nodded.  
"I am not going anywhere…ever. I know we'd never talked about this, but I was always afraid to bring up the future, I didn't want to freak you out or make you think that we were moving too fast. But I have dreamed of this since the moment I laid eyes on you. I don't know how to explain it. I just knew when I saw you, that you were who I wanted my future to be with. And this…" he got on his knees and places his hands on her stomach, "this is how our future starts. You, me, and this little miracle."

He kissed her stomach and it took Caroline's breath away when he looked up at her with tears in his eyes.

She got on her knees with him and pulled him in for a wonderful, long and passionate kiss.

When they finally pulled away from one another, Stefan leaned forward so his forehead was touching hers.

"I love you so much Caroline. You don't know how happy you've already made me. And this is just another thing to make me love you more if that's even possible. We're going to be parents!" he exclaimed.

Caroline let out a laugh as another happy and relieved tear fell.  
She swore she'd never seen Stefan so happy, and that made her heart soar.

Everything was going to be just fine.

The two parents to be spent the rest of night lost in each other, making love multiple times between the, 'I love you's' and talking about everything they wanted to do together in their future.

It was the perfect night.

Everything was going to be just fine.

And everything else could wait until the next day.

Nothing and nobody was going to ruin the high that they were both on tonight.

 **HAPPY HOLIDAYS MY BEAUTIFUL READERS!  
Sorry this update took so long, but I am truly hoping that it was worth the wait. And I hope everyone if happy with the new addition of the soon-to-be Steroline baby. I couldn't help myself, I just really wanted to write Stefan's reaction to finding out that he was going to be a father, it made me happy! Lol  
The next update won't take as long as this one, I have a long weekend thanks to the holiday to I'll get one, maybe two chapters up within the next 2 or 3 days, but definitely one new chapter at least, that is a promise! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!  
As always, reviews and comments are appreciated. I am really looking forward to hearing what you guys thought about this chapter! **


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